Epochs of Modern History 

EDITED BY 
EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. & J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. 



THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 



J. M. LUDLOW 



THE WAR 

OP 

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 

1775-1783 

JOHN MALCOLM LUDLOW 

AUTHOR OF ' A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES 
FROM INDEPENDENCE TO SECESSION* 'PRESIDENT LINCOLN SELF-I'OURTRAYEd' 

ETC. 

WITH FOUR MAPS ,..-— 



BOSTON 
ESTES AND LAURIAT 

CHICAGO 
JANSEN, McCLURG, & CO. 

SAN FRANCISCO 
PAYOT, UPHAM, & CO. 

1876 





ItonAift . Itonffftutrut <fr ( a. 



i 

CONTENTS. 



» - 

. !0 ... CHAPTER I. 

j"^ INTRODUCTORY. 

PAGE 

Why the war cff American independence forms an epoch in 
history i 



CHAPTER n. 

THE AMERICAN COLONIES (TO 1763). 

Races inhabiting the colonies 2 

I. The Red "Man . - 3 

• What the Indian is ■• 3 

What he . was ; towns, agriculture 4 

Arts ; written language ; observation of nature . . 4 

Languages 6 

Forms of government .6 

Inferiority of women 7 

Beliefs 7 

Mode of warfare. 8 

Absence of the pastoral element 8 

Code of morals 9 

Capacity for endurance 9 

Influence of the Indian element on the colonists . . 10 
General character of relations between the red and 

white rfian .' .' .' .' .' . . . . ir 



vi Contents. 

PAGE 

Distinctions between the Latin and Teutonic races in 

relation to the red man 12 

Roman Catholic nations most successful in Christianising 

the red man. ........ 12 

Most powerful tribes, Iroquois, Cherokees, and Creeks . 13 

II. The White Men 14 

1. The Spaniards ........ 14 

I, The Spaniards. England and Spain the only Conti- 
nental powers in North America 14 

Early Spanish discoveries 14 

Settlement of Florida 15 

Occasional warfare with England 16 

Spain's position in America after the treaty of Paris, 1763 16 

2. The French . . . . . , . . . 16 

Importance of the French element 16 

Early discoveries and settlements . . . . . 17 
Heroic missionaries 'and heroic adventurers ; Cavalier de 

la Salle 18 

Progress of France in the Mississippi valley . . . 19 
Cape Breton colonised ; extension of French colonisa- 
tion in the west ; New Orleans ..... 20 
What France had done : scanty population of her 

colonies 21 

< In the coming- war, the French colonists will side w ith 

the English . . 22 

The Indians will do the same . . . . . . 22 

3. The English ........ 22 

The North American continent discovered by England . 23 

The English colonies ... . , • . . . 23 

The. northern and southern groups . . . . -23 

Southern group : the thirteen colonies and their limits . 24 

Distinctions between the colonies of the southern group 25 

Three sub-groups 26 

I. Virginia . 26 

The name formerly wider than now . . . . 26 

Early attempts at colonisation by Gilbert and Raleigh 26 
The London Company ; a colony established ; House 

of Burgesses 27 



Contents. \H 

TAGE 

John Smith ; Pocahontas 28 

Indian wars ; the Stuart kings 28 

" Submission to the Commonwealth ; growth of landed 

aristocracy 29 

The Restoration ; Bacon's Rebellion 30 

Distress of the colony 31 

Return of prosperity . . . ■ 31 

2. Maryland 32 

Liberal charter : Lord Baltimore 32 

Early prosperity : troubles with Clayborne . . -33 
Commonwealth ; Restoration ; Maryla'arl after i638 a 

royal government 34 

Similarity to Virginia ....... 34 

3 (S: 4. The Carol inas . . . . . . . . 34 

Early charters ; Shaftesbury and Locke's 'grand model* 35 

Turbulent early history of these colonies. Slavery . . 35 

The colonists break up Indian civilization in Florida . . 36 

Indian wars ; the Carolihas become colonies, 1729 . 37 

5. Georgia 37 

The last founded colony 37 

Oglethorpe ; his charter and his govermnent . . -27 

Hostilities with Spain . 38 

Failure of Oglethorpe's plans 38 

6 & 7. Neio York and Nciu Jersey 39 

New York the centre of a sub-group . . . - 39 
Hudson at Alanhattan Island ; the New Netherlands ; 

New Amsterdam 39 

New Sweden ; eventually annexed to the New Nether- 
lands .-40 

The Dutch territory conquered by England, and divided 

into New York and New Jersey 4^ 

History of New Jersey soon connected with that of Penn- 
sylvania ......... 41 

S & 9. Pennsylvania and Delaware 42 

Pennsylvania the last founded of the religious colonies . 42 
The Quakers in America ; Penn ; Philadelphia ; Dela- 
ware 42 

The Pennsylvania constitution ; Penn's proprietary rights 

confiscated in 1688 43 



viii Contents. 

PAGE 

lo, II, 12,- 13. New England: Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

New Hampshire, and Rhode Island 43 

Early attempts at settlement 43 

The ' Pilgrim Fathers ' 43 

Their compact before landing 44 

Early difficulties 45 

Relations with the Indians ; Massasoit ; Canonicus . 46 

The Indians degenerate 47 

Settlement of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, 

Rhode Island ; Roger Williams 48 

Rapid growth of Massachusetts ; Vane and Mrs. Hut- 
chinson 48 

Settlement of Connecticut ; the Pequod war . ... 49 
Cruel fate of Miantonomo the Narragansett . . -50 
The ' United Colonies ' of New England . . . . 50 
The oppressive conduct of Charles I. leads to a federa- 
tion 50 

IVTassachusetts during the Commonwealth . . . . 51 

The Restoration 52 

jKing Philip's war 52 

Struggle of Massachusetts against the Restoration Go- 
vernment. The Revolution of 1688 . . . • 54- 
Warfare with the French till 1748 54 

III. The Black Man 55 

Growth of slavery 56 

Royal slave traders ; the Asiento 56 

Support of slavery and the slave trade by the mother 

country . . . ^j 

General Colonial History, 1748-64 . , . . -53 
Connexion of King George's War with Franklin . . 58 
Benjamin Franklin; the author of the first military or- 
ganization in the colonies 58 

The ' French and Indian War ' ; George Washington . qg 

Franklin's proposed congress 60 

General Braddock's defeat 61 

Conquest of New Brunswick ; expulsion of the Acadians 62 

French successes . ." 62 



Contents. ix 

1"AGK 

The French defeated ; Canada conquered ; Peace of 
Paris .......... 62 

Pontiac's war . . . . . . . . . 63 

The colonies in 1763 .64 



CHAPTER III. 



CAUSES OF DISCONTENT. — STRUGGLE BEFORE 'illE WAR 
(1763-75)- 

Montcalm's prediction 64 

Mingled loyalty and disaffection of colonies . , . .64 

The Navigation Laws . . . . . . . . . 65 

Struggle against the Navigation Laws, in New England 

especially 65 

The coming contest prefigured . 66 

Other causes of discontent .... . . . . -67 

Mutual complaints bqtweep the jnother country and the colonies 68 
The attempt to raise a revenue from the colonies ; George 

Grenville ........... 68 

The colonial Revenue Act . . . . . . .69 

Protests of the colonists ; Otis ; Samuel Adams . . . . 69 

The Stamp Act, 1765 69 

Patrick Henry's resolutions ' T^ 

A congress convened ; riots at Boston and elsewhere . • 1^ 
Indeperrdence already spoken of; New York Congress and its 

proceedings . . . . . • . . . . . 71 
The Stamp Act cannot be carried into effect . . . -72 
The Rockingham Cabinet ; Pitt rejoices that America has 

resisted 73 

The Stamp Act repealed, 1766 ; the Declaratory ^Vct . . 73 

Rejoicings in the colonies . . . . . . . . 74 

Further obnoxious measures 74 

The Quartering Act. Suspension of the New York Assembly . 75 

The Chatham Cabinet, 1766-8 . . . . . . . 76 

Renewed agitation in the colonies ; non-importation agree- 
ments ; French intrigues 76 

The Boston Convention • 78 



X Contents. 

r 
Troops sent to the colonies ; Hillsborough's and North's policy 

feelings of Washington (1768-9) 

Spread of non-importation agreements ; the Boston massacre 
Lord North attempts a compromise ; the Tea Act (1770) . 

The burning of the ' Gaspee,' 1772 

The committees of correspondence ; destruction of tea at Bos 

ton (1772-3) 

Indignation of parliament ; the Boston Port Act. 

Other repressive measures 

Protests of Virginia and Massachusetts ; a Congress called . 
The Continental Congress at Philadelphia (Sept. 1734) . 
Washington still disclaims the idea of colonial independence 
The Massachusetts provincial congress ; raising of troops 
Large majorities in parliament against concession ; Chatham' 

warnings .......... 



Massachusetts prepares for war ; a collision barel}'- averted 
Virginia prepares for war ; Washington ready to devote his life 
to the cause ......... 

The train ready for the spark 



89 

89 
90 



CHAPTER IV. 

The colonial powers 90 

Europe 91 

France and Spain the only powers directly interested in the 

American struggle 94 

France the intellectual centre of Europe ; Voltaire, Rousseau . 94 

Sense of a coming revolution ....... 95 

The new reign in France a hopeful one ; Turgot and Males- 

herbes. The corn riots of 1775. . . . . . . 96 

French sympathy with America preceded the American Revolu- 
tion 97 

Special grounds for such sympathy ; admiration for England . 97 

America for France an ideal England 98 

Influence of the partition of Poland 99 



Contents. xi 

I'AGE 

England .„ 99 

The Jacobite party extinct 99 

George IIL ...,..•.. • • . • • • 100 

"VVilkes, Junius, Chathapi, Byrke, Fox . . . ' . 100 
Literature and art : John§on, t^ume, Gibbon, Cowpcr, Mac- 

pherson, Walpole, Sheridan, Reynolds, Gainsborough . . loi 
Industry : the inventors— Strutt, Hargreaves, Arkwright, Watt, 

Wedgwood, Flaxman . . . . . . . . lor 

Chemistry and Priestley ; engineering — Brindley, Smeaton . . 102 

Growth of population ; improved agriculture ; Arthur Young . 103 

Two boys of six. Napoleon Bonaparte and Arthur Wellesley . 103 



CHAPTER V. 

THE WAR : FIRST PERIOD ; TILL THE FRENCH ALLIANCE 
(1775-8). 

The war : divided into two periods by the French alliance . 104 
The first shot ; battle of Lexington, April 18-19, 1775 . . 104 

The whole country astir ; Boston invested 105 

Surprise of Ticonderoga, May 10 105 

Second Continental Congress ; a Continental army voted . . 106 
General Gage proclaims martial law ; Washington commander- 
in-chief ........... 106 

Washington ........... ic6 

Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 107 

Washington in command ; his difficulties . . . . . ig3 
Proceedings in the south ; the governors on board ship . .110 
Last attempts at conciliation by Congress ; Richard Penn and 

the ' Olive Branch ' iir 

Proclamation against rebellion ; application to German princes 

for troops iit 

The English people do not appreciate the crisis . . . , 112 
Debates in parliament ; Lord George Germain ; the ministry 

supported 112 

The General Prohibition of Trade Act ; votes for German troops 113 
America receives with divided feelings the proclamation against 
rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . 114 

The invasion of Canada by Montgomery 114 



xii Contents. 

PAGE 

Arnold ; the failure before Quebec (Dec. 31, 1775) • . . 115 
Lord Dunmore in Virginia ; Norfolk burnt (Jan. i, 1776) ; the 

American flag 116 

Washington's difficulties continue • . . . ,.ii6 

Boston evacuated, March 1776 117 

Measures of Congress ; resolution against the slave trade ; free 

trade 11& 

America secretly aided by France and Spain . . . . iiS 
Dissolution of the old colonial governments ; Declaration of 

Independence proposed 119 

British attack on Fort Moultrie ; American disasters in Canada ; 

the retreat . 12a 

Washington at New York ; miserable state of the army . .121 
Arrival of a British fleet, and of royal commissioners . . 123^ 
The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 . . . . 122 
A paragraph relating to slavery and the slave trade struck out . 124 
Declamatory character of the Declaration ; its unfairness . . 124 

The Declaration in fact one of war 126 

Its influence en foreign countries 126 

Its enthusiastic reception in America 126 

The need of union still scarcely felt. Postponement of the plan 
of confederation ; . ...... 127 

The royal commissioners and Washington ; New York 

threatened 127 

Battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776 128 

Discouragement of the troops ; Wa:shington's position desperate 129 
Fruitless peace Conference ; New York evacuated (Sept. 15) . 130 
Congress raises a new army to sen'e during the war . . . 131 
General Howe's advance ; Fort Washington taken (Nov. 16) . 131 
Washington's retreat through New Jersey ; Rhode Island re- 
covered by the British ; results of the campaign , . . 132^ 
Indignation caused in England by the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence ; Franklin in Paris ; John the Painter . . . . 133. 
Outcry in America against Washington. Reed and Lee ; Tree's 

capture 133, 

Disaffection in Pennsylvania ; Washington's temporary military 

dictatorship 134 

The surprise of Trenton, Dec. 25, 1776 135 

The battle of Princeton, January 1777 ; New Jersey nearly 
recovered ..", . . . . . . .. 136 



Contents, xiii 

I'AGE 

Washington's winter difficulties ; smallpox disastrous . . 136 
The ravages of the British alienate the people . . . , 137 
Foreign volunteers ; they become a difficulty . . . .137 

The Marquis de la Fayette ; Kosciusko 138 

Lord Chatham's reappearance ; expedition from Canada 

decided on ......... . 139 

Burgoyne's advance ; at first successful . . . . . 140 

Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777 ..... 140 

Battle of Brandywine, Sept. 11, 1777 141 

Philadelphia occupied by the British, Sept. 26 ; battle of Ger- 

mantown, Oct. 4 ........ . 141 

Renewed outcry against Washington 142 

The battles of Stillwater, Sept. 19, Oct. 7 . . . . 142 

Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, Oct. 16 143 

Gates and Washington 144 

Rejoicings in England over the occupation of Philadeli^hia ; 

Chatham's inconsistency 144 

Gloomy impressions produced by the Saratoga surrender ; 

France ready to treat with America ..... 145 
Sense of an impending crisis ; the king has forebodings . . 146 
The scheme of Confederation adopted by Congress, Nov. 15, 

-^m 147 

Impotency of Congress ........ 147 

Washington's miserable winter at Valley Forge . . . 147 

Inaction of the English . • 148 

The treaty between France and America, February 6, 1778 . 149 

The theatre of the war enlarged 149 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE WAR : SECOND PERIOD ; FROM THE ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 
TILL THE END OF THE WAR (1778-83). 

France and the treaty . . 149 

Lord North's conciliatory bills. 150 

The king will not have Lord Chatham as premier . , . 151 
Death of Chatham, May 11, 1778 15 



2 



Preparations for war with France 153 



xiv Contents. 

Rejoicings over the treaty in America 153 

Reception of the ConciHatory Bills 154 

Arrival of the royal commissioners (June 4, 1778) . . . 154 

The evacuation of Philadelphia ordered 155 

Philadelphia evacuated ; battle of Monmouth {June 28) ; Lee 

and Washington 156 

Articles of Confederation signed by several States . . . 157 

D'Estaing and the French investment of Newport . . . 157 

Indian massacres 158 

Failure of the peace commission 158 

The war in other quarters ; Keppel ; Paul Jones; Hyder Ali . 158 
Increasing impotency of Congress ; it solicits French ' pro- 
tection' . . . . . . . . . . . 159 

British operations in the South. Savannah taken (December 

29), and Georgia recovered ....... i6r 

South Carolina invaded, and Charleston threatened (May 1779) i6r 
Washington's ,army during the winter of 1778-9. Defensive 

campaign ........... 162 

General Sullivan devastates the Iroquois country . . . 164 

The British in Penobscot Bay 164 

Congress appoints peace commissioners ..... 165 

The war in Europe uneventful . . . . . . . 165 

Spain's, backwardness in going to war ..... 165 

War convention between France and Spain, April 12, 1779 . . 166 
The north-western territory coveted by Spain, but occupied by 
the backwoodsmen . . . . . . . .167 

England ready for war with Spain, but impatient of that with 

America. The king's obstinacy 16S 

Siege of Gibraltar ; the combined fleets in the Channel . . 168 

Paul Jones's sea-fight ; vast scale of the war. . . . . 169 
Failure of the French and Americans before Savannah, October 

9. 1779 170 

Rhode Island evacuated by the British ; Charleston taken 

(May 12, 1780), and South Carohna subdued . . . . 171 
Another gloomy winter for Washington, 1779-80. Supineness 

of th© .\mericans . . . ♦ . . . . . . 172 

The war at sea ; Rodney . .^ 174 

Nelson in Central America. England's quarrel v.ith Holland . 175 
The armed neutrality . . . . . . . .176 



Contents. xv 

I'AOK 

Ireland ; the Yorkshire Committee ; the Protestant Association 

and Lord George Gordon 177 

Burke's plan of Economic Reform ; Dunning's resolution . 178 
The London No-popcry riots, June 2-8, 1780 . . . . 179 
Si^anish negotiations stopped by the riots .... 180 

The war in South Carolina ; battle of Camden (August 16, 1780} i3o 
Coniwallis's march into North Carolina checked. American 
partisans. Greene in command . . . • . . . 181 

Little doing in the North 183 

Arnold's treason, Se',pt. 1780 183 

'ihe war in India and at sea, 1780 ...... 185 

Tlie new Parliament ; war with Holland declared, Dec. 20, 1780 185 

The war in Europe, 1781 185 

Seizure of St. Eustace, Feb. 3, 1781 ; the war in the West 
Indies, Florida, and India, 178 1 . . . . . . 1 36 

France anxious for peace. Mediation of Avistria . . . . 187 

Washington's army during the winter of 1780-1. Mutinies . i83 
The crisis tided over; the Articles of Confederation finally 

signed, March i, 1781 189 

Greene in the South. Battle of the Cowpens, Jan. 17, 178 1 . 190 
Lord Cornwallis advances again into North Carolina, Greene 
retreating ........... 190 

Battle of Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781 ; Cornwallis 

falls back to the coast 191 

La Fayette and Arnold in Virginia. Cornv/allis leaves Wil- 
mington (April) 192- 

Greene recovers the greater part of South Carolina . . . 192 
Proceedings in parliament ; Fox and the younger Pitt . . . 19-I- 
A\'eakness of America ; subserviency to France . . . 19+ 
Cornwallis in Virginia. He withdraws to Yorktown (August 

1781) 19+ 

Battle of Eutaw Springs, Septembers, 1781 ; the war at an end 

in the South - 195 

Arnold in Connecticut (September) 196 

Junction of Washington and the French ; operations on the 

Chesapeake decided on i9(> 

The march to Virginia, August 1781 196 

Yorktown invested, September 28 ; Cornwallis surrenders, 

October 19 197 



xvl Contents. 

PAGE 

Rejoicings in America 198 

Proceedings in parliament ; the ministers fiercely attacked ; 

meetings against the war 198 

The war almost everywhere disastrous to England. Minorca 

lost (Feb. 7, 1782) 199 

Weakness and fall of Lord North's ministry (March 20, 1782) . 200 
The second Rockingham ministry ; Shelburne treats with 

Franklin .... 2or 

America so reduced that she cannot believe in peace . . . 202 

The crown offered to Washington 202 

Rodney's victory in the West Indies (April 12, 1782) . . . 203 

The Shelburne ministry ; evacuation of Savannah (July 12) . 203 

Active warfare confined to the .< iege of Gibraltar . . . 204 
Progress of negotiations ; preliminary articles of peace between 

England and America, Nov. 30, 1782 204 

Opening of parliament, Nov. 5 ; the king's speech . . . 205 

The French troops return to Europe 206 

Preliminaries of peace with France and Spain, Jan. 20, 1783 . 206 

Peace with Holland and with Tippoo Sultan .... 207 

Fall of Shelburne ; the coalition ministry (April 2, 1783) . . 207 
Discontent of Washington's officers. Cessation of hostilities 

(April 17, 1783) 208 

Congress threatened by mutineers . . . . . . 208 

Ratification of the treaties, Sept. 3, 1783 ; the slave question . 208 

]Lvacuation of New York, Nov. 25, 1783 209 

Washington's farewell to b.is officers ; he is thanked by Con- 
gress. ........... 2TO 

Cost of the war 210 

What England had done 211 

Results of the war for the different races 211 

(i) The Red man driven back 211 

(2) Advance of the White man .212 

(3) -The Black man ; what he got from the Americans . . . 212 

The Black man badly treated by the English .... 214 

PIovv^ the Black man's wrongs will avenge themselves . . . 214 



Contents. xvii 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PARADOXES OF THE WAR, AND ITS TRUE CHARACTER. 

PAGE 

England's success seemingly impossible . 
England was often on the verge of triumph . 
Puzzles to be explained ...... 

Reliance of the English on the loyalists 

Inadequate support really afforded by the loyalists , 

Incapacity of the American politicians .... 

Supineness and want of patriotism of the people 

Why did England fail 

Incompetency of British generals no sufficient reason 
Ministerial incapacity no sufficient reason 
Importance of the foreign aid supplied to America . 
The war ceased when the English nation thoroughly under- 
stood its character ......... 227 

Early popularity of the war the result of ignorance . . . 227 
The popularity of the war never but skin-deep . . . . 228 

Contrast with feelings called out by war with France and Spain 228 
The war in fact a duel between Washington and George III. . 229 
American success impossible without Washington . . . 229 
George III. the centre of English resistance to American inde- 
pendence ........... 230 

In such a duel, Washington must win 231 

Character of Washington's greatness . . . . . . 232 

Washington and Wellington compared ..... 233 

Washington a thorough Englishman 234 



215 
215 
217 
217 
219 
220 
221 
223 
223 
224 
226 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1783. 
State of the world 234 

The balance of power but slightly affected by the war . . . 234 
New political events since 1775 outside of the war . . . 234 

Other events 235 

a 



xviii Contents. 

PAGE 

Voltaire's return to Paris (Feb. 1778) . . . . 235 

Voltaire's death, May 30, 1778 ....... 236 

Rousseau's death, July 1, 1778. ...... 236 

Financial ruin of France ........ 236 

The heroes of the day in France, and the coming men of the 
future ........... 236 

Germany ; sympathy with America 237 

England ; the literary world ....... 237 

The political world 237 

America 238 



Quotations for which no source is quoted are derived from Mr. 
Bancroft's ' History of the United States.' 



LIST OF MAPS 



The World . . To face Title 

British Colonies in North America . ,, page 24 

North America before the War ,66 

AFTER the War , 210 



THE 

WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The war of American Independence deserves on several 
grounds to be deemed an epoch in history, ^yhy the 

It was the first instance in modern times of war of 
the successful revolt of a colony against the indepen- 
mother-country. ^Te^T' 

It was followed by a series of more or less i" history. 
similar revolts, which stripped France of her largest re- 
maining colony in the western world, deprived Spain 
of the whole of her possessions on both continents of 
America, and have probably not yet been brought to a 
close, as the pending Cuban insurrection seems to show. 

It created the first independent state on either Ameri- 
can continent which had existed since the downfall of the 
great Indian kingdoms of Mexico and Peru in the six- 
teenth century. 

By depriving England of her most important colonies 
m America, it shifted the centre of gravity of her colonial 
empire from the western to the eastern hemisphere. 

Through the share taken by France in the struggle, 
M. H. B 



/ 



^ 



2 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

and its influence on public opinion in that country, it 
contributed largely to the French Revolution, and 
thereby to the complete transformation of the political 
and social state of Europe, which has resulted therefrom, 
and which is still going on. 

It laid the foundation of a polity which is the first 
realisation in history of a federal republic on a large 
scale ; which exhibits features previously unprecedented 
in the records of political experience ; but which has in 
turn been largely followed. 

It has virtually altered the whole theory of the relations 
of colonies to the mother-country. 

By splitting the English race into two nations, it has 
doubled its influence on the destinies of mankind. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE AMERICAN COLONIES (TO 1 763). 

We think, and think rightly of the war of American in- 
dependence as of a struggle between thirteen English 
T, . colonies, and England their mother-country. 

Races in- ' * •' 

habiting the Yet, besides the English, several other races 
had contributed to build up the English 
colonies ; Dutch in New York, Swedes and Fins in Dela- 
ware and New Jersey ; French on almost every outskirt ; 
Spaniards to the far south ; a scattering of Germans in 
Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Among all 
these, the Dutch is the only race that has shown any 
persistent force, giving for instance a President to the 
Republic in the person of Mr. Van Buren. 

Behind them all lay another element, which can 
scarcely be said to have entered into the composition of 
the American people, so slight has been the mixture of 



1763. The Red Man. 3 

blood between the white man and the red, but which 
must have acted powerfully from without on the for- 
mation of the American character. This element is found 
in the North American Indians, or Red Men, whom 
European colonists found in the seventeenth century on 
the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and whom they are 
now exterminating from those of the Pacific. 

And in the midst, another race foreign to the conti- 
nent had been introduced by European colonists, destined 
to grow up and multiply ; amongst the white men but 
not of them ; a leaven of discord, a ferment which should 
some day seethe and bubble into civil war — the black 
men of Africa, imported as slaves. 

Let us consider each type in turn, taking as the start- 
ing point of our survey the year 1763, the date of the Peace 
of Paris. At this period the common danger, arising from 
the presence of France on the North American continent, 
which had hitherto united the English colonists and the 
mother-country, had, as will hereafter be seen, passed 
away; and their jarring interests began to come out more 
distinctly. We will begin with 

I. The Red Man. 

The North American Indian is for most persons now- 
a-days, and not unjustly so, the embodiment of the un- 
tameable, irreclaimable savage. Under his what the 
highest aspects, we scarcely see him but as a i"'^'^" •^• 
wandering robber ; under his lowest, as a lazy, filthy, 
drunken vagabond, crawling about like vermin on the 
outskirts of civilisation. From what he is, would-be 
philosophers spin theories as to why he is so, and invari- 
ably conclude that it is, and always must have been, his 
manifest destiny to be swept away before the white man, 
his superior. It is probable, indeed, that no influence 
now in the world can stop the extermination of the 



4 The Wa7' of American Independence, a.d. 

Indian race — a few tribes acknowledged as 'civilised' 
perhaps excepted — ^ within the Great Repubhc. But 
justice is due to the dead, to the dying, to the dumb, still 
more than to the living and the healthy, who can speak 
for themselves. And history shows us the red man in a 
very different light from that in which we see him now. 

When the European first met with the North 
American Indian, he was no irreclaimable savage. He 
Whathewas- ^"^^ Settled abodes, villages, towns ; a Fran- 
towns, agri- ciscan monk speaks of a village of seven or 
eight thousand souls in what is now Illinois. 
So far from being mere wandering hunters, Mr. Ban- 
croft expressly says that ' all the tribes south of the St. 
Lawrence, except remote ones on the north-east and the 
north-west, cultivated the earth. The Iroquois or Five 
Nations, who long defied the power of France, dwelt 
in fixed places of abode, surrounded by fields of beans 
and of maize.' Strachey, in his ' Historic of Travaile 
into Virginia,' tells of the Indians of the coast, how 
' about their houses they have commonly square plots 
of cleared ground, which serve them for gardens, some 
lOO, some 200 foote square.' The knowledge of two of the 
main products of American agriculture at the present day, 
maize and tobacco, — products which have overspread the 
world, — is due to these irreclaimable savages. 

Without the use of iron, they built huts, boats, pali- 
sades for fortification, wove mats and embroidered them, 
Arts; written drew thread from the wild hemp and the 
observation ^^^^tle, wrought feather mantles, nets, baskets, 
of Nature, fisli-wcirs, dresscd skins to exquisite supple- 
ness, made pottery, prepared various brilliant pigments. 
The snow-shoe, the vapour bath, and, above all, the pipe, 
appear to be of their invention. They stored for the 
winter, fruits, maize, dried buffalo meat, smoked fish. 
They had a kind of written language, consisting of 



1763. TJlc Red Man. 5 

strings of shells known by the name of wampum. The 
office of the herald, bearer of the peace-pipe, was sacred 
among them. They were careful observers of Nature ; 
their power of interpreting her phenomena has been 
described as almost miraculous. In striking contrast with 
the Australian black, whose skill as a path-finder, equally 
wonderful at first sight, has been found to depend so 
completely on the retentiveness of his memory that, 
when taken into a strange district, he is utterly help- 
less, the expertness of the Red Indian rests upon 
generalisations of a truly scientific character, enab- 
ling him to make his way through a perfectly un- 
known country with almost the same accuracy as through 
one with which he is familiar. He is a geographer by 
instinct, not only understanding maps when shown to 
him, but tracing them rudely for himself. Thus, the 
latest writer who has had opportunities of observing the 
Indian whilst yet undegraded, Mr. Joaquin Miller, says : 
^ All Indians are great travellers. ... A traveller with 
them is always a guest. He repays the hospitality he 
receives by relating his travels, and telling of the various 
tribes he has visited, their extent, location, and strength. 
. . . Telling stories, their histor)-, traditions, travels, and 
giving and receiving lessons in geography, are their 
great diversions around their camp and wigwam fires 
at night. . . . Geography is taught by making maps in 
the sand or ashes with a stick. For example, the sea a 
hundred miles away is taken as a base. A long line is 
drawn there, and rivers are led into the sea by little 
crooked marks in the sand. Then sand or ashes arc 
heaped or thrown in ridges to show the ranges of moun- 
tains. This tribe is defined as having possessions of 
such and such an extent on the sea. Another tribe 
reaches up this river so far to the east of .that tribe ; and 
so on, till a thousand miles of the coast are mapped out 



6 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

with tolerable accuracy.' Hence those raids which, in 
the days when the red men were numerous on the eastern 
coast, used to terrify the colonists, when parties of two 
or three braves only would travel hundreds of miles to 
carry back a few scalps. 

If we look to language alone as a basis of nationality, 
they formed nations rather than tribes. Although the 
Algonquin language spread from the Atlantic 
to the Mississippi, and from Cape Fear to the 
Esquimaux country, over sixty degrees of longitude and 
over twenty of latitude, still within this vast region the 
Huron-Iroquois occupied a large tract of country, about 
Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, besides a smaller one in 
North Carolina. To the south, the Mobilian language 
extended from the Atlantic to the Southern Mississippi. 
Cherokees and others, among whom may be mentioned 
the Natchez, a tribe of Mexican origin, towards the 
mouth of the Mississippi, formed subordinate families or 
branches of more westerly races. 

Their forms of government were various. When the 
white men came in contact with them, they had republican 
Forms of Confederacies like that of the Five Nations 
government. (Mohawks, Oncidas, Onondaguas, Cayugas, 
and Senecas), extending from the St. Lawrence to what 
is now Virginia ; or that of the Creeks which almost 
joined the limits of the former, extending from the Gulf 
of Mexico to Cape Fear. They had despotisms, as 
among the Natchez, or again, such as that of Powhatan, 
described by William Strachey as the ^ great emperor of 
Virginia,' at ' the least froun ' of whose brow the greatest 
would tremble, and whose majesty would sometimes 
strike ' awe and sufficient wonder in our people.' Chief- 
tainship was generally hereditary in the female line. 
Among the Natchez and Hurons the chiefs formed a 
caste, as being descended from the sun. But the council^ 



1763. T Jit Red Man. 7 

to which all grown men v.ere admitted, v.ith right of 
speech, must have formed everywhere a strong counter- 
poise to any hereditary or caste rights. 

The rights of the sexes were not equal ; the woman 
was little more than a beast of burthen, generally a slave. 
She was the sole tiller of the ground, and inferiority 
ingatherer of the harvest ; all household work of women. 
was hers ; she carried the game, the wood, the hut and 
its contents on a journey. ' The greatest toils of the men 
were to perfect the palisades of the forts, to manufacture 
a boat out of a tree by means of fire and a stone hatchet, 
to repair their cabins, to get ready instruments of war 
or the chase,' and, it must be added, the toils of the 
chase itself, and of war. 

They had a universally diffused faith in the immor- 
tality, if it may be so termed, of life in every living thing, 
and in the existence for every kind of animal 

- . , 1 , , Beliefs. 

of some typical exemplar, larger and more 
powerful than all other creatures of the same kind, called 
the manitou. These manitous became chief objects of 
worship, one man chiefly venerating the manitou of the 
buffalo, another the manitou of the bear, etc. Besides 
these, however, all nature was filled for them with spiritua 
presences, and one Great Spirit w^as generally acknow- 
ledged as ruling above all, though too high for worship. 
As usual with savage nations, the deities really wor- 
shipped were those whose malevolence was most to be 
feared. The war god, in particular, was appeased by 
human sacrifices ; and the frightful tortures usually 
inflicted on prisoners taken in war seem to have been 
more or less of a sacrificial nature. They had medicine- 
men, or sorcerers, who claimed to be familiar with the 
secrets of the unseen world. The Natchez kept up a 
sacred fire. 

Revenge was a leading Indian virtue, and was, indeed, 



8 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

an hereditary duty. That which, perhaps, most ahenated 
Mode of the white man from the Indian was the 
warfare. character of his warfare, turning mainly upon 
surprises. The Red Indian's glory consists not in fight- 
ing his enemy, but in killing him, and carrying off his 
scalp as a trophy. Hence he will never meet him in 
open fight if he has a chance of slaughtering him unawares 
or asleep ; nor would he shrink from carrying off the 
scalp of the woman and the child, if it be not worth his 
while to carry the w^omen or children themselves off as 
prisoners. Still, he was not guilty of indiscriminate 
scalp-hunting like the head-hunting of the Dyak of Bor- 
neo who cannot marry till he has cut off a head, it 
matters not whose if not of his own tribe. 

One great cause which seems to have retarded the 
development of the Indian races of North America was 
Absence of ^^ abscnce of the pastoral element, and of 
the pastoral tamed animals larger than the dog. Yet even 

element. . , . . , . i ,. , 

m this respect they have given the he to those 
who treat them as unteachable. Since the European 
has introduced the horse into America, whole tribes 
of Indians have become as thorough horsemen as the 
wandering Arab or Tartar. Again, when in the beginning 
of the eighteenth century the settlers of South Carolina 
invaded Florida, they found the Indians round St. Mark's 
in possession of cattle. Anyone who chooses to read 
that black page of American history which records the 
driving of the Creeks and Cherokees out of Georgia will 
find that the latter at least were, as indeed they are still, 
to all intents and purposes a civilised people, engaged in 
agriculture and trade, and with a written language of 
their own — an irrefragable proof that the Red Indian is 
no irreclaimable savage, but has only been forced by the 
white man to become so. Indeed, even in their least 
advanced condition the Indians have never been slow in 



1763. ^^^^ R(^^ Man. 9 

availing themselves of those resources of civilisation which 
suit tlie condition of a race hunted out wherever it is not 
hunted down, and compelled always to stand in an atti- 
tude of self-defence. They have exchanged the stone 
tomahawk for the steel one, the bow and arrows for the 
musket or rifle, the ignition of wood by friction for the 
lucifer-match. 

Their code of morals, says a writer whom I have 
already quoted, Joaquin Miller, ' consists chiefly of a con- 
tempt of death, a certainty of life after death, Code of 
temperance in all things, and sincerity. Their morals. 
fervid natures and vivid imaginations make the spirit- 
world beautiful beyond description, but it is an Indian's 
picture. . . Woods, deep, dark, boundless, with parks of 
game and running rivers ; and above all and beyond all, 
not a white man there.' 

In the courage of endurance, no race of men, except 
the Northmen of Europe, seem ever to have equalled 
them. In nothing was this more shown than n 

o Capacity 

in the tortures inflicted upon captives when forendu- 
they were not adopted into their captors' tribe. 
These were expected, whilst fastened to the stake, 
lacerated, mutilated in every way, not only to give way to 
no groan or sign of pain, but to chant their war-song and 
boast of their exploits and those of their tribe against their 
enemies. On a large scale, the same endurance has 
been exhibited b}^ the whole race in its struggles against 
the white man. If it be true, as American writers are 
of opinion, that at the time of the discovery of North 
America the Indians south of the St. Lawrence and east 
of the Mississippi were not more than 200,000 in number, 
the stubbornness of their resistance has been something 
incredible. A mere fragment of the old Creek confederacy, 
the Seminoles of Florida, maintained as late as 1835-39 
a harassing Avar against the United States. In our 



10 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

own days a Modoc war has been carried on in the west 
against the American people by Hterally a score or two of 
Indian warriors. Cheered by no hope of ultimate tri- 
umph, the red man has never counted the odds against 
him, and at ten to one, at a hundred to one, has fought on a 
fight which after-ages Avill perhaps recognise as the most 
heroic of which history bears record, if his courage rather 
than his manner of waging it be considered. 

It will easily be seen how strong an influence upon 
the colonists of North America must have been exercised 
Influence of by the prcsencc of the Indian element, through 
efemln't'on '^'^^ necessities of constant watchfulness, and 
the colonists, almost Constant warfare, against such enemies. 
The Indians were always too few to overpower a settle- 
ment, except in its very beginnings ; but a few raiders 
were enough to keep hundreds of miles of settlements in 
a state of disquietude. The Red Indian was, as it were, 
the whetstone on which the courage, the wits, and alas ! 
too often the ferocity of the white man were sharpened 
for two centuries. The Spaniard found in Hispaniola a 
population which seems to have been one of the gentlest 
the world has ever seen, and which perished off the face 
of the earth almost without striking a blow. In IMexico 
he found one not devoid of bravery, but accustomed 
to obey, which accepted his sway after a few sharp 
struggles. But further north, the Englishman, Dutch- 
man, Frenchman found himself confronted by a race of 
the most stubborn tenacity, for the most part passion- 
ately fond of their freedom, full of individual hardihood, 
each man a host in himself, having to be quelled or killed 
one by one. White weaklings, white cowards, were no 
match for them. The discipline of the soldier was of 
small avail against them. The only colonists that could 
prosper in their neighbourhood must be such as could 
fight and win their own battles. 



1763. The Red Man, IT 

The history of the relations of the Indian tribes with 
the European settlers varies little. As a rule, the new- 
comers are well received at first by the natives, ^, , , 
except where distrust has been excited by the racter of re- 
previous visits of white kidnappers. Contracts t\Jeen\he" 
and treaties are entered into before each party red and 

, , , , - , , , . white man. 

thoroughly understands the others meaning, 
and sooner or later these treaties are sure to be differently 
interpreted by them. Quarrels ensue, almost universally 
provoked by the white man ; massacres are perpetrated, 
seldom on one side alone ; perhaps what the white man 
calls a war breaks out, which seldom lasts more than 
a campaign, ending in the white man's victory, and in 
some fresh treaty, which the red man understands a 
little better than the first, and hates all the more. The In- 
dian is pressed back and back ; perhaps allows himself to 
be driven into some angle of land, with the sea in his rear. 
Now he feels himself doomed ; but almost invariably 
another fierce struggle has to be gone through, in which 
he attempts to use the white man's all-powerful weapon, 
organisation ; but it is too late, and he is finally crushed, 
either into slavery or death. The story indeed changes a 
little when white men of different races or faiths settle in 
each other's neighbourhood, and gradually come into 
contact. Here the Indian becomes valuable as an ally, 
and his aid is contended for by both parties ; he is kept 
in leash as it were, to be let loose, v.hen the day of con- 
flict comes, in all his savagery upon the white enemy, 
and upon his own red kinsmen who may side with the 
latter. But if this state of things may protract for a time 
the existence of the tribe as a power, it does not the less 
hasten the extermination of the race through the white 
man's wars. Sooner or later the one white race triumphs 
finally over the other, and from that day the fate of the 
red man is sealed. 



12 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

Still, a difference is to be observed between the 
colonisation of the Latin races on the one hand, and 
Distinctions of the Tcutonic races on the other. The 
between the former, as a rule, enslave rather than exter- 

J^atin and . ' ^ ' 

Teutonic niinate the native races ; the latter extermi- 
rdatlonto ^^.tc far more than they enslave. Again, 
the red man. ^s a conscquence of preserving the native 
races by slavery, the former easily amalgamate with 
them ; the latter, because they exterminate, have none 
to amalgamate with. Thus, although the first madness 
of ferocious cupidity in the Spaniard may have swept 
away the natives of the West India islands, and led to 
many a massacre by the hands of the early ' Conquista- 
dores,' it is certain that throughout the whole of the 
Spanish possessions, both in North and South America, 
the Indian population has subsisted to this day, mingling 
more and more in blood with its conquerors. Even 
without such admixture it has risen gradually once more 
in the social scale, till, as liow, the whole-blood Indian 
race is found constantly at its very summit, especially 
in Central America and Mexico, to which it has given 
one who may perhaps be her last hero — Juarez. In 
North America, again, the French mingled freely with 
the natives ; and thus one of the most adventurous 
classes of the population in what is now British, and 
was French, America is that of the Canadian voyagem's^ 
largely composed of half-breeds. 

This result has been no doubt owing in great part to 
the Roman Catholic Church. It must be admitted that, 
Roman liowcvcr hcroic, and even temporarily suc- 

Cathoiic cessful, may have been the efforts of indi- 

nations most -^ -^ . . 

'iiccessfui in vidual Protcstant missions among the red 
higThrred" 1^'^cn, they have in most cases been either 
"i-'^"- spasmodic, and intermittent, or their results 

have been annihilated by some selfish act of the civil 



1763. TJie Red Man. 13 

power, such as the displacement of the whole Indian 
population. There is nothing similar to the wholesale 
Christianising — whatever may have been the means 
employed, and however low the grade of Christianity 
imparted — of the Indians in the Spanish colonies, or 
to the vast network of French missions in Northern 
America, and to their wide-spreading influence over the 
natives. It is impossible to read without horror the 
story of the massacre of Sebastien Rasles, the last of 
the French missionaries in New England, who had 
gathered round him a flourishing village of Abenakis, 
with a church and two chapels. Hounded on to their 
bloody work by a Government reward of 100/. for 
each Indian scalp, a party of New Englanders, after 
pillaging and setting fire to village and church, left 
him, mangled by many blows, scalped, his skull broken 
in several places, his mouth and eyes filled with dirt. 
(1724.) 

In 1763, the time of which we are speaking, the only 
Indian power deserving the name was that of the Five 
Nations. These had become Six Nations, y^^^^ power- 
since the migration of the Tuscaroras from f^i tribes, 
Carolina in 171 5, and their adoption into the cherokees, 
Confederacy. They were spread on both sides ^""^ Creeks. 
of the St. Lawrence, from the region near Lake Champlain 
to Lakes Erie and Huron. The Cherokees were, how- 
ever, strong in the valley of the Tennessee, and the 
Creeks further south. In the basin of the Mississippi 
the Indian tribes subsisted still, with the exception of the 
Natchez, who had been exterminated by the French, as 
will be related in the next section. 



14 The War of American Independence, a.d,. 

II. The White Men. 
I. The Spaniards. 

Of the various European nations named above as 
having contributed to people the North American colo- 
I. The nies, only one besides the English retained, 
En^kn'dand ^"^ ^1^% ^ position on the continent — -Spain. 
Spain the With the exception of the Dutch, the history of 
neiitai °" ^' the Others had merged so soon into that of two 
North^'" or three of the English settlements that it 
America. dcscrvcs no Separate treatment. The original 
settlement of New York by the Dutch — unique as having 
grown out of purely commercial motives — has left its 
Stamp to this day on that state, the chief centre of Ameri- 
can commerce, and the head-quarters of the commercial 
spirit within the union. 

The coast of Florida had been discovered in 15 12 by 
Ponce de Leon, who took possession of it in the name of 
Early Spain ; but the first attempt to form a colony 

Spanish there cost him his life (1521). Already, the 

'discoveries 

year before, two Spanish slavers had visited 
the coast of Carolina, and kidnapped a living freight ; but 
here too, when they attempted to conquer, the resistance 
of the natives defeated their efforts (1525). Other 
attempts failed equally, though the last, by Ferdinand de 
Soto, resulted in the exploration of a large tract of 
country, and in the discovery of the Mississippi nearly 
as far as its junction with the Missouri (1539-43). These 
Spanish expeditions, negative as were their results as 
respects the colonising of the country, should not be over- 
looked. The wanton cruelty displayed at this early 
period by the Spaniards may afford the key to much of 
the opposition afterwards offered by the Indians to colo- 
nists of other white races. In his adventurous march up 



,562-5. 1^^^^ WJiitc Men. 15 

the valley of the Mississippi, Soto found the Indians, 
says Bancroft, an agricultural people, with fixed places 
of abode, subsisting upon the produce of the fields 
more than on the chase, neither turbulent nor quarrel- 
some. The Spaniards enslaved them, would cut off the 
hands of numbers on a slight suspicion, threw to the 
hounds the unfaithful or unsuccessful guide, set fire to 
hamlets for any trifling cause, and sometimes burnt a 
native alive. 

After these early discoveries, little more is known of 
the history of the Spanish colonies in North America, 
excluding of course Mexico — except at those Settlement 
few points of time when it touches that of the of Ho"da. 
French or English. Spain indeed had given up all 
efforts for colonising Florida, when hatred to French 
Huguenots made her resume them. An attempt at colo- 
nisation by a party of these was made, in the latter half 
of the sixteenth century, on the coast of what is now 
Carolina, a name first derived from a fort erected by these 
settlers in honour of Charles IX. of France. This attempt 
was made in accordance with the plans of the Admiral 
Coligny, the great champion of the Huguenots. Two 
colonies were founded (1562 and 1564) but home-sickness 
broke up the first, the Spaniards exterminated the second. 
The Spanish commander professed to hang the French- 
men, ' not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans.' When 
the news of the disaster reached France, a Gascon soldier 
fitted out three ships with which he sailed for the American 
coast (1568), and ravaged the Spanish settlements, hang- 
ing up in turn his prisoners, ' not as Spaniards, but as 
traitors, robbers, and murderers.' But this time the 
Spaniards kept their ground, and the town of St. Augustine, 
founded by them in 1 565, is the oldest in the United States. 
Although, under the name of Florida, Spain laid 
claim to the whole of the coast northwards, Canada 



1 6 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

included, there is little more to be said of the history of 
the Spanish settlements on the northern coast of the 

Gulf of Mexico. In 1686 we find the Spa- 
warfare with niards again destroying a Protestant settle- 
England. lYient, this time of Scotch Presbyterians, as 
far north as Port-Royal. Ten years later (1696) Pensa- 
cola is founded by three hundred Spaniards from Vera 
Cruz, to become a border town of West Florida. The 
rest of the story of Spanish Florida belongs really to the 
history of the neighbouring English colonies. It is 
sufficient to say that, in 1763, when the treaty of Paris 
concluded that wide-spreading Seven Years War whose 

centre lies in the struggle between Frederick 
uovXri ^°^^" the Great of Prussia and the combined forces 
America q£ Austria and France, Spain, as the ally 

after the 717 j 

treaty of of Francc, gave up Florida to England, 
ans, 17 3- j-ecgiying in exchange from France Louisiana 
beyond the Mississippi. Whatever right Spain thereby 
acquired merged in her own indefinite claims to terri- 
tory in North America as the sovereign of Mexico, 
The settled population of Florida is said to have sunk 
by this time to a few hundreds. 

2. The Fj'ejicJi. 
Although the French flag had, by 1763, been swept 
from the mainland of North America, the French ele- 
ment upon it cannot be overlooked, any more 

Importance ^ ...... 

of the French than the Indian, with which, mdeed, it had 
element. gj^own singular affinity. By far the larger 
portion of the romance of American colonial history 
belongs to the French settlements. No other European 
nation sends forth missionaries so devoted, adven- 
turers so enterprising as the French. France gives a 
name to the St. Lawrence and to the Mississippi ; to 
Carolina and to Louisiana ; to the Iroquois on Lake 



1524-34- ^-^^^ White Men. — Freiieh. \j 

Ontario, and to the Grosventres on the eastern slopes 
of the Rocky Mountains ; to the ' portage ' and to the 
* prairie.' Whilst the English settlers hugged the Atlantic 
seaboard, French missionaries and traders were estab- 
lishing communications between the great lakes and the 
Gulf of Mexico. Always ready to spring to arms on the 
outbreak of every war between the two mother-countries, 
always seconded by large numbers of Indian allies, the 
French colonists kept their English neighbours con- 
stantly on their mettle, although never powerful enough 
to overpower them altogether. 

Although France had not been first in the race of 
discovery, her flag was seen early on the shores of North 
America. In the first quarter of the fifteenth Y.z.x\y dis- 
century, Verrazzani, an Italian in the service coveries and 

j-T- -Tr-r- 1-j^i i settlements. 

of Francis I. of France, reachmg the coast 
about the latitude of Wilmington, followed it north- 
wards to Nova Scotia (1524). A few years later, 
hardy Jacques Cartier of St. Malo discovered the St. 
Lawrence (1534), and settlements were soon attempted 
in the north of the continent, though they only began 
to succeed in the early years of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. With the colonisation of Canada, Nova Scotia, 
and Cape Breton by the French this work has no con- 
cern ; but it must be remembered that the southern limits 
of Acadia or New France (the present Nova Scotia) 
extended to the latitude of Philadelphia, thus covering 
the whole of what became the New England Colonies, 
and that, in particular, what is now the State of Maine, as 
well as north-western New York, was first settled by the 
French. Moreover, notwithstanding one or two attempts 
at colonisation in the south — such as that ill-fated one of 
French Huguenots in the latter half of the sixteenth 
century — it was from the north that French influence in 
North America was destined to spread. But this influence 

M. II. C 



1 8 TJic War of A mcrican Indcpcndaice. a. d. 

was no true measure of French power. In 1679, the 
European population of New France amounted only to 
8,515 souls, and throughout nearly the whole of the 
seventeenth century the Indian confederacy of the Iro- 
quois balanced the whole power of France in America. 
They were allies of the English, and to their valour, as 
Mr. Bancroft admits, the State of New York 'owes its 
present northern boundary.' 

Substantially, Canada was almost as truly colonised 
through religious enthusiasm as the New England States 
^^ . themselves. Following the Franciscans, the 

Heroic mis- t • , r s i i i 

sionariesand Jcsuits (1032), encouragcd by the emment 
vemure^s- govcmor, Champlain (whose name has clung 
Cavalier de to a beautiful lake in the State of New York), 

la Salle 

attempted first the conversion of the Hurons; 
hereditary foes of the Iroquois, then of the Chippeways, 
then of the Abenakis of Maine, then of the Iroquois them- 
selves. They crept from shore to shore along the whole 
line of the great lakes, frequent martyrdom begetting 
only fresh enthusiasts. They carried the French name to 
what are now the States of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, 
Ilhnois, and reached the Mississippi in 1673, floating 
down the great river in Indian canoes, beyond the limit 
reached by De Soto long before, to a point below the mouth 
of the Arkansas. Close on their steps followed adven- 
turers of the heroic type, such as Cavalier de la Salle, who 
in 1682 descended the Mississippi to the sea, planted the 
flag of France on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, named 
the territory Louisiana in honour of him whom men then 
called Louis the Great, and then returned to France to 
press the establishment of a colony in the vast and fertile 
region which he had explored. He was listened to with 
favour, and sailed once more for America with 280 colo- 
nists, but was shipwrecked on the coast of Texas, which 
he took possession of in the name of France (1685), 



I687-I70I' 'rJ^^ White Men. — French. 19 

building a fort which he named St. Louis. From this 
point he endeavoured in vain to find the Mississippi in 
canoes, made an excursion into northern Mexico, from 
whence he brought back five horses (those animals 
having already gone wild, and been tamed afresh by the 
Indians, since the Spanish conquest of Mexico). Finally, 
with sixteen men, he determined to travel back on foot 
to Canada, but was murdered on the way by his com- 
panions (1687). 

The events of the various wars between England and 
France in America belong rather to the history of our 
own colonies. Towards the end of the seven- Progress of 
teenth century France held possession of the ^'^mLss^s- 
whole American coast and islands, from sippi valley. 
Hudson's Bay and Labrador to Maine, of Canada and 
the Mississippi valley, the eastern half of Newfoundland 
being alone excepted. To Illinois, which seems to have 
been occupied by the French since the time of La Salle, 
was soon added a fort at Detroit, in what is now Michigan 
(170 1.) Kaskaskia was the first permanent European 
settlement in the Mississippi valley, gathering round a 
most successful Jesuit mission, where marriages of French 
emigrants with converted Illinois Indians were solemnised 
according to Roman Catholic rites. On the other hand 
the gallant Canadian, d'Iberville, sought in France for 
emigrants to Louisiana, and, more fortunate than La Salle, 
reached safely the southern coast (1699), and began at 
Biloxi the European settlement of the present State of 
Mississippi. Missionaries and others soon descended 
the Mississippi from the north ; the new comers in turn 
ascended part of it ; exploring parties, mostly in search of 
minerals, rambled through western Louisiana, and to what 
is now Iowa. The chief settlement was ere long trans- 
ferred from the arid shore of Biloxi to the v/estern bank 
of the Mobile river, and what is now Alabama began to 



20 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

be colonised. The possessions of Spain on the mainland 
were henceforth regarded as commencing only on the 
eastern shore of the last-named river, and running west- 
ward till they bordered on the English settlements in the 
debateable land of Carolina. 

At the Peace of Utrecht in 17 13, France ceded to 
England Hudson's Bay, Acadia or Nova Scotia, and New- 
foundland, and agreed never to ' molest the Five Nations 
subject to the dominion of Great Britain ; ' but she retained 
Louisiana, as well as Canada. Cape Breton was colo- 
nised by French refugees from Acadia and Newfoundland ; 
and, thanks in great measure to her far-spread influence 
over the Indian tribes, France not only held her ground. 
Cape Breton ^^^ ^^"^ colonists advanced their settlements, 
colonised; occupying wcstem New York, establishing 
French coio- tlicmselves along the banks of the Alleghany 
th^we^t'-"" ^° ^^ 0\{\o, beginning the settlement of what is 
New now Indiana, and possessing themselves of all 

Orleans. , ,. - . . , , 

the great hnes of communication between the 
St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. They claimed the 
shore of the Gulf of Mexico to the west, as far as the 
Rio del Norte ; they pushed up the Red River (of the 
south), till they reached the Spanish borders. Louisiana, 
it was asserted, extended to the head-springs of the Alle- 
ghany, the Monongahela,the Kenawha,and the Tennessee. 
New Orleans was founded by Law^s famous Mississippi 
Company (17 18), and Arkansas began to be settled. An 
Indian war followed some years later, in which the chief 
actors were, on the one side, the Natchez and Chickasaw 
Indians — the latter allies of the English — on the other, 
the French and the Choctaws. The Natchez, after a 
massacre of French settlers, were destroyed, their chief 
(named the Great Sun) and more than four hundred 
prisoners being shipped for sale to St. Domingo (1732). 
I'eace was made with the Chickasaws (1740) ; but the 



1748-63. The White Men. — Fi'ench. 2\ 

French retained their country, and thereby the command 
of the middle course of the Mississippi, between Lower 
Louisiana and Ilhnois. Another war with England left 
the ever-unsettled boundary as it was. The French 
sought to win favour with the Iroquois by separately 
treating with them, established a new mission south of 
the St. Lawrence, and occupied the- valley of the Ohio, 
whilst border conflicts broke out first on the Acadian (now 
Nova Scotian) frontier (1748-50), and then in the Miamis 
and Ohio valley (1752-54). But the fall of the French 
power in North America was at hand. What follows is 
so mixed up with the history of the great hero of Ameri- 
can independence that it need not be here dwelt upon. 
It is enough to say, that the Peace of Paris left nothing to 
France in North America but a couple of islets off New- 
foundland. 

Thus, although the adventurous spirit of her sons had 
girdled round the English settlements to the north, to the 
west, and partly to the south, and had laid the 

What 

foundations of almost every one of the present France had 
inland States of the American republic east of popuiadon ^ 
the Mississippi, still France had only worked of her 
for England. South of the St. Lawrence (New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia excepted), the French 
population was a mere scattering, not capable even of 
estimation ; and even of the colonies of the St. Lawrence 
basin, the population was insignificant in comparison 
with that of the region originally settled by the English. 
Canada is estimated to have had, in 1760, 65,000 
inhabitants; in 1784, after a considerable influx of 
loyalists through the war, 113,000. Nova Scotia, in- 
cluding New Brunswick, is reckoned to have had 13,000 
in 1764; the population of Cape Breton was over-esti- 
mated in 1758 at 10,000. In the year 1763 the whole 
group together, including Newfoundland, cannot have 



22 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

reached 100,000; not a twelfth, as will soon be seen, ot 
the population of the English colonies proper. 

One consequence of this entire disproportion in popu- 
lation between the English-speaking and the French- 
speaking colonies in North America was, 
coming war, that the Sympathies of the latter were sure to 
cok>nSs*will ^^ ^^ ^^ lo^& "^^^ i^ favour of any cause which 
side with the would hinder their absorption in the former. 
"^ ^^ ■ And since their struggles had after all been 
not so much with Englishmen, as such, as with their 
neighbours the English colonists, it followed that if any 
rupture should occur between the latter and their mother- 
country, the sympathies of the French colonists would 
easily be enlisted on behalf of that mother-country. 
Hence the curious result, that whilst continental France 
was marked out by every feature as the destined ally of 
the revolted English colonies, the French colonists of 
what had been New France were carried by the force of 
circumstances into the opposite camp, and were to be 
made loyal subjects of England by the very events which 
deprived the latter of her English colonies. 

And what was true of the French was equally so of 
the Indians, their old allies. The red man's foe too was 
The Indians ^^^ ^^^ Englishman, but the English colonist, 
will do the It was not the British parliament, but the 
colonial governments, which had many a time 
offered rewards for his scalp. When the hour of battle 
came, the redskin was the destined auxiliary of King 
George's pale-faces against his revolted American 
subjects. 

3. The English, 

The discovery of the North American continent be- 
longs, if not to an Englishman, yet to England. Under 
a patent which already contemplated occupation, it was 
first touched, far away to the north, by John Cabot in 1497. 



H97-^7^3- ^^^^ White Mai. — English. 23 

The eastern shore of part of the present United States 
was first coasted, at least as far as the southern 
border of Maryland, by his son Sebastian I'„7eHcan^ 
Cabot in 1498. Yet it was not till eighty years continent 

uiscoverecl 

later that the first heroically ludicrous attempt by England, 
at English colonisation on the American shore The Eng- 

, , ,«■ . T^,., .... lish colonies. 

was made, when Martm Frobisher, believmg 
that he had found an Eldorado near the pole, tried with a 
fleet of fifteen sail to found a settlement north of Hudson's 
Straits (1578). Several subsequent attempts were also 
failures, and it is only from the first expedition sent by 
the ' London Company' to Virginia in 1606, that the per- 
manent settlement of North America by Englishmen must 
be dated. Yet at the period we are treating of (1763) 
— little more than a century and a half later — we must 
think of British North America as extending in latitude 
fr3m the Gulf of Mexico to the far north, in longitude 
from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and in the northern 
part of the Mississippi basin stretching away indefinitely 
into the unexplored west. 

A line of moral demarcation, substantially the same 
which now separates geographically British North 
America from the United States, divided the The north- 
northern colonies conquered from France southern 
from the southern ones settled by England, groups. 
This line was formed by the St. Lawrence and the chain 
of the Great Lakes, except that the northern group 
of colonies threw out a spur on the right bank of the 
great river, comprising Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
wick. It has already been stated that of the northern 
group the population cannot in 1763 have reached 
100,000. That of the southern group, on the contrary, 
has been variously estimated at from 1,216,000 to 
1,700,000. 
The settled country proper extended from 52° to 44° 



24 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

north latitude. But it was as yet only a mere fringe on 
the Atlantic coast. In Virginia, the oldest colony, it did 
not extend further west than the Blue Ridge. Yet these 
colonists were profitable customers for the mother coun- 
try. They consumed one-sixth of the woollen manufac- 
tures of Great Britain, besides linen, cotton, iron, and 
other goods. In 1760 their imports were reckoned to 
be 2,611,766/. 16^. \od.y or over 2/. a head. A much 
lower figure is given for their exports — 761,101/. \\s. 6d. ; 
but tliis probably does not include exports to foreign 
countries, in breach of the navigation laws. Lord Chat- 
ham estimated the profits of their trade at two millions a 
year. 

Thirteen colonies composed the group : Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, known 
Southern together as the New England Colonies ; New 
group : the York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
colonies and land and Delaware, Virginia, North and South 
their hmits. (Carolina, and Georgia ; names many of them 
of far larger import then than now, when State after 
State has been carved out of either the original settle- 
ments themselves (as Vermont out of New York, Maine 
out of Massachusetts, Western Virginia out of Virginia), 
or out of the then unsettled territory claimed by them, 
and including all the present central states of the 
Union east of the Mississippi. Mr. Thackeray falls 
almost short of the truth when he says, in his 'Vir- 
ginians ' : ' The maxim was, that whoever possessed the 
coast had a right to all the territory inland as far as the 
Pacific ; so that the British charters only laid down the 
limits of tlie colonies from north to south, leaving them 
quite free from east to west.' Such was the case in the 
first charter for Virginia. But the Plymouth charter for 
New England expressly extended to the Pacific (1620J; 
so did that of Connecticut (1662) ; so did that of Carolina' 



1665-1763- ^^'^ White Men. — English. 25 

(1665) ; so did that of Georgia (1732). New York, under 
its original name of New Netherlands, and New Sweden, 
which became Delaware and New Jersey, had virtually no 
boundaries at all, having been founded by companies 
with unlimited rights of settlement on the American con- 
tinent. On the other hand, Pennsylvania and Maryland 
were limited to the westward from the first. So were also 
necessarily those colonies which were carved out of others 
during the colonial period itself, as New Hampshire and 
Rhode Island. 

Without any actual line of division, there was again 
a moral distinction between the colonies of the north 
(New York only excepted) and those of the Distinctions 
south, with perhaps the exception of Georgia, between the 
Religious principle had founded the northern the southern 
colonies, the spirit of adventure the southern, sroup. 
Other characteristics distinguishing the two elements may 
be noted hereafter, but all, perhaps, flow from that one. 
Otherwise, as has been well observed by a recent German 
writer, Professor von Hoist, the thirteen colonies varied 
in some respects ' so widely from each other that almost 
more essential differences were to be found between them 
fthan points of comparison and resemblances.' Their 
■only geographical tie was their separation from all the 
civilised world besides ; their only moral tie, their rela- 
tion to a common mother-country. The sense of unity 
which has sprung up so rapidly in our Australian colonies, 
while as yet no political ties unite them formally, did not 
exist. There were no 'Americans,' as there are now 
* Australians,' or if the term was used it was by English- 
men at home in speaking of the colonists, not by the 
colonists in speaking of themselves. Each colonist, as 
the writer I have just quoted justly remarks, was first a 
child of his own colony, then an Englishman. At the 
same time it must be said that, from about the middle of 



26 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

the 1 8th century, owing partly to the growth of population 
in the English settlements, still more, perhaps, to the 
spread of PYench influence along the whole rear of them, 
there begins to be a general colonial history in place of 
that of separate colonies. 

Let us now briefly sketch the growth of the thir- 
teen colonies. Historically, it will be found that they 
Three sub- rcsolvc themselvcs into three sub-groups, of 
groups. which Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts 
are the centres. 

I. Virginia. — Precedence of course belongs to Vir- 
ginia, the first founded of all, the ' Old Dominion' of the 
The name planter, the ' Ole Virginny ' of his slave. The 
wicS^than ii^-^^^ is indeed now much narrower than it 
now. was at first, since the first attempts to colonise 

the Virginia of the sixteenth century were made on one 
of the islands of what is now North Carolina. 

It is not improbable that the abortive attempts of the 
French Huguenots in Carolina paved the way to the Eng- 
T. , . lish colonisation of America. It has been no- 

JLarly at- 
tempts at ticed that our Raleigh reached France the year 

by^GHbert after Dc Gourgues' return (1569), and learnt the 
and Raleigh. ^^^ ^f ^^^ undcr the great Huguenot, Coligny, 
the planner of French colonisation in Florida, for the 
benefit of his co-religionists. Nine years later (1578) 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh's step-brother, obtained 
a colonisation patent, to be ofperpetual validity, if a plan- 
tation were established within six years. Two expeditions 
(1579 and 1583) failed; Gilbert perished in the second. 
Raleigh took up his step-brother's work, under a new 
patent, and an actual settlement was formed (1585) on 
Roanoke Island, now in North Carolina. Treachery and 
cruelty, however, marked the brief existence of even this 
first English colony ; a leading Indian chief and his princi- 
pal followers were massacred by preconcert at an audience. 



1585-1650. The Thirteen Colonics. 2/ 

at which no sign of hostility was shown by the Indians, 
and the island had to be deserted next year. A second 
attempt on the same spot (1587) was an equal failure ; the 
very fate of the colonists was never known, though Raleigh 
is said to have five times sent vessels in search of them. 
The next attempt at colonisation was on the shores of 
New England (1602), and was equally abortive. 

The hour of success was, however, at hand. There 
was a strong feeling in England in favour of coloni- 
sation. Two companies were formed for the 

1 1 1 1 T 1 The London 

purpose ; one only succeeded, the London Company ; a 
Company, the real founders of Virginia, whose t°jj°|J;he*d- 
first expedition set sail December 19, 1606, House of 
and landed on the shores of a river flowing '^ 
into Chesapeake Bay. Yet the composition of the colony 
was absurd. There were four carpenters to forty-eight 
gentlemen ; only twelve labourers, and very few me- 
chanics, out of 105 emigrants. The early years of the 
colony were disastrous, but it was reinforced from time to 
time by fresh batches of emigrants. Men of high posi- 
tion were sent out as governors. The introduction of 
tobacco into Europe became a source of wealth ; even 
the streets of Jamestown, the Virginian capital, were 
planted with it ; it was the usual medium of exchange. 
The first colonial assembly in the New World, the Vir- 
ginian ' House of Burgesses,' sat for the first time in 
Jamestown in the year 1619. In 1622, the white popula- 
tion amounted to about 4,000, and spread nearly 150 
miles up the James River. But a canker had already 
been introduced, which Avas some day to eat almost into 
the vitals of the American people. The first negroes 
were sold as slaves in the James River by a Dutch man 
of war in August 1620. By 1650 Virginia held fifty whites 
to one black. 

Two names must be mentioned in connexion with 



28 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

the early history of Virginia. One is that of John 
John Smith ; Smith, an adventurer of genius, who had 
Pocahontas, fought the Spaniards in the Low Countries, 
the Turks in Hungary, had wandered as far as Egypt 
and Morocco, had been taken in battle in Wallachia, 
sent as a slave to Constantinople, then to the Crimea, 
and had escaped through Russia and Transylvania. This 
man is treated by most historians (but chiefly, it would 
seem, on the strength of his own narratives) as the hero 
of Virginian story — ' the Father of Virginia, the true 
leader who first planted the Saxon race within the bor- 
ders of the United States.' A still more romantic per- 
sonage is Pocahontas, daughter of the chief Powhatan, 
who married an Englishman named John Rolfe, was 
brought to England and received by King James, but 
died at Gravesend on her way back (1617), having given 
birth to a son, Thomas Rolfe, from .whom the ^ first 
families of Virginia' are proud to claim descent. 

An Indian massacre, planned by Powhatan's suc- 
cessor, Opechancanough, stopped the growth of Vir- 
^ J. ginian prosperity. In one hour 347 colo- 

Indian wars ; * r r ^ ^-r/ 

the Stuart nists were killed, and the war which ensued, 
Kings. followed by sickness and the return of many 

emigrants, reduced the population by 1624 to 1,800. In 
the same year James I. cancelled the patents of the 
London Company ; but the framework of the colonial 
constitution remained on foot, and to protect the growth 
of Virginian, the import of foreign tobacco into England 
was prohibited. Charles I., who succeeded the next year 
to the throne, confirmed by proclamation the monopoly 
of the import of tobacco to Virginia and the Somers 
Islands, but sought by another proclamation to consti- 
tute himself the sole factor of the planters. The Vir- 
ginians were thankful for their own monopoly, but steadily 
repudiated that of the king. Under the governorship of 



1641-52. The Thirteen Colonies. 29 

Sir William Berkeley (164T-5) the colony, reduced indeed 
in extent through the Maryland charter, began again 
to flourish, although his administration was marked 
by its second and last great Indian war. In 1643 the 
Assembly enacted, says Bancroft, that ' no terms of peace 
should be entertained Avith the Indians, whom it was 
usual to distress by sudden marches against their settle- 
ments.' The Indians retorted by another massacre, in 
which 300 whites perished. In the warfare which fol- 
lowed, the old chief Opechancanough was taken prisoner, 
and died from a wound inflicted on him after his capture. 
His successor made peace (1646) on the terms of submis- 
sion and large cessions of land. Henceforth any hosti- 
lities with the Indians in Virginia were considered to be 
not with enemies, but with rebels. 

On the outbreak of the English civil war, Virginia, 
true to the aristocratic character of its original settle- 
ment, remained at first faithful to the crown. 
Fugitive Cavaliers flocked to its shores, and to the'com- 
after the execution of Charles I., Sir Geor"e "lonweaith; 

' *=> grovvth of 

Berkeley, the governor, received a new com- landed aiis- 
mission from Charles II. A fleet, however, °''''^'^^- 
was sent out by Cromwell, which received the submission 
of the West Indian colonies, and on the arrival of a single 
frigate in the Chesapeake, Virginia in turn acknowledged 
the Commonwealth, receiving in exchange practical inde- 
pendence. Its people were to have all the liberties of the 
freeborn people of England; no taxes or customs were to 
be levied except through their representatives, nor any 
forts erected or garrisons maintained without their consent 
(1652). Till the end of the Commonwealth, Virginia 
elected her own governors. On the other hand, a law 
which gave fifty acres of land to planters for every 
person whom they should import at their own cost, 
tended rapidly to build up a landed aristocracy of large 



30 The War of Americaji Independence, a.d. 

proprietors. Add to this, that for many years Virginia, 
like other colonies, was for the mother-country a place of 
transportation for offenders, and that there was no provi- 
sion for education, so that in 167 1 Sir George Berkeley 
(who had been re-elected governor at the Restoration) 
■could ' thank God there are no free schools nor printing, 
and I hope we shall not have, these hundred years.' So 
Virginia grew up to be what it has been till within our 
■own days, a land of great gentlemen and of 'mean 
whites.' 

During the latter years of the Commonwealth the 
northern portion of Carolina had begun to be explored 
The Resto- from Virginia, and in the early years of the 
^"°'^; T, Restoration her colonists began to settle there. 

Bacon s Re- _ ° 

beiiion. In this direction, however, also, the expansion 

of her territory was stopped by the Carolina patents 
(1663,^665). The era of the Restoration was indeed a 
dark one for Virginia. A strong partisan Assembly had 
been elected, which acted with great oppressiveness. 
Severe penalties were enacted against nonconformists ; 
the suffrage was restricted. On the other hand, trade 
was crippled by Charles II.'s Navigation Acts ; the 
colony was irritated by a royal grant to Lord Culpeper, 
including lands already settled, and at last by one of 
* all the dominion of land and water called Virginia,' 
for thirty-one years, to Lords Culpeper and Arling- 
ton (1673). Some hostilities with the Indians on the 
Maryland frontier kindled discontent into a flame, and 
gave rise to the most remarkable event, perhaps, in Vir- 
ginian colonial history — a civil war known as * Bacon's 
Rebellion,' from the name of Nathaniel Bacon, its leader, 
which assumed a republican character, and was for a 
time triumphant, but was eventually stamped out with 
ruthless severity by Sir George Berkeley (1675-7^. The 
executions were continued even after a royal proclamation 



1671-84. The Thirteen Colonies. 3 1 

had arrived, promising pardon to all but the leader, 
Bacon. *The old fool has taken away more lives in 
that naked country than I for the murder of my father' 
was Charles II.'s characteristic comment on Berkeley's 
proceedings. 

The effects of the insurrection were disastrous. Lord 
Culpeper was made governor for life (1677), and the go- 
vernment became thus a proprietary one. A distress of 
perpetual export duty of 2S. a hogshead was the colony. 
laid on tobacco for the support of the government, and was 
to be accounted for only to the crown. The Navigation 
Law pressed with even sorer weight. Virginia had in 
vain endeavoured to procure its mitigation, and, when 
foiled, had proposed repeatedly to Carolina and Maryland 
to stop the growing of tobacco for a year, in order to 
enhance the price to the English consumer. At last she 
solicited the crown itself to prohibit the growth of the plant 
for a year by proclamation, and when this was refused, 
mobs began to root up the tobacco in the fields. Between 
the crippling of her trade, the effects of the insurrection, 
the suppression of many of her liberties, and the madness 
of her own people, Virginia was, by the end of Charles II.'s 
reign, in a state of extreme distress, and the inauguration 
of that of James II. by an additional arbitrary duty on 
tobacco (1685), was not of a nature to mitigate such dis- 
tress. Voluntary emigration ceased, and the only addi- 
tions from England to the white population were by means 
of transportation and kidnapping, the latter practised 
chiefly from Bristol. 

Still, with no foreign neighbours except the French in 
what was then the Far West, and at peace with the Indians, 
Virginia began to recover her prosperity. Peace Return of 
with the Indians had been secured by the con- prosperity. 
elusion of a treaty at Albany in 1684 between herself, New- 
York, and Massachusetts on the one side, and the Five 



32 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

Nations on the other. The second in age of the educational 
foundations of the United States, WilHam and Mary Col- 
lege, was established under the sovereigns whose names 
it bears (1692) ; though the proposal for so doing, on the 
plea that Virginians had souls as well as Englishmen, was 
at first met by Attorney-General Seymour with the reply, 
* Souls ! d — n your souls ! make tobacco :' The Indian title 
to land in Virginia was extinguished by a further treaty 
with the Five Nations, now the Six Nations, at Lancaster, 
in Pennsylvania, in 1 744. The Assemblies continued to be 
in a state of chronic opposition to the governors, but vir- 
tually the real governor and king of Virginia was tobacco, 
in which taxes were paid, and which was wealth to who- 
ever chose to plant it. Thanks to tobacco, ' alone of all 
the colonies ' Virginia ' had no debts, no banks, no bills 
of credit, no paper money ;' but it had also no towns to 
speak of, no villages, no trade, no manufactures, nothing- 
but scattered plantations, in which every man not a slave 
did very much that which was right in his own eyes. 
In 1748 it was believed that the population had nearly 
doubled itself in twenty-one years. 

2. Maryland. — With the history of Virginia is closely 
connected that of Maryland. Under a charter of the year 
Liberal 1 632 (granted after the cancelling of the Vir- 

l'^cI^B iti- a^i'^i^-^ patents), a portion of the territory com- 
more. prised in the second Virginian charter to the 

northward, and partly settled by Virginian colonists, ex- 
tending as far as the 40th parallel of latitude, was formed 
into a new colony under the name of Maryland, so called 
from Henrietta Maria, Charles I.'s queen. With the for- 
mation of Maryland is linked the memory of a remark- 
able man — Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who, in 
an age of growing alienation from the Romish Church in 
England, resigned the secretaryship of state, to become a 
Roman Catholic. He was a zealous promoter of coloni- 



1638-49. 1^^^^ Thirteen Colonies. 33 

sation, had been a member of the Virginia Company, and 
had endeavoured to colonise the southern promontory of 
Newfoundland. By the Maryland charter Lord Balti- 
more was constituted owner of the soil, with power 
to create manors and courts baron, on payment of a 
yearly rent of two Indian arrows and a fifth of all gold 
and silver discovered. But he could only legislate with 
the consent of the majority of the freemen ; his authority 
was not to extend to the life, freehold, or estate of any 
emigrant ; Christianity was made the law of the land, but 
religious equality was granted, all liege subjects, present 
and future, being allowed to emigrate to the new colony. 
Last, not least, the crown reserved to itself no control, and 
expressly stipulated that it would never lay imposition, 
custom, or tax on the inhabitants of the province. In con- 
formity with this singularly liberal charter, the governor of 
Maryland had to swear that he would not, by himself or 
any other, ' directly or indirectly molest any person pro- 
fessing to believe in Jesus Christ, for or in respect of reli- 
gion,' and a colonial act of 1649 enacted provisions to 
the same effect. Lord Baltimore had invited the Puritans 
of Massachusetts (who will be presently spoken of) to 
emigrate to Maryland ; he welcomed those from Vir- 
ginia, and at the same time the Anglicans whom Massa- 
chusetts disfranchised. 

The early beginnings of the colony were exceedingly 
prosperous. The tirst emigrants, headed by Lord Balti- 
more's younger son, had been carefully selected, j-^^.. g_ 
and they were well received by the natives. It peHty ; 
is specially recorded that 'the Indian women -with 
taught the wives of the new-comers to make <^'aybome. 
bread of maize.' Within six months the colony 'had 
advanced more than Virginia had done in as many years ' 
(1634). Soon afterwards, however, troubles arose with a 
man of the name of Clayborne, one of the early Vir- 

M. H. D 



34 27/^ War of American Independence, a. p. 

ginian settlers, who claimed some jurisdiction under a 
royal license of earlier date than the Maryland charter, 
and it was not till 1647, after hostihties with the Indians, 
and an insurrection which was for a time triumphant, 
that peace was eventually restored. 

During the English civil war and commonwealth, the 
government of Maryland was disputed between the repre- 
Common- scntatives of the ' proprietary,' Lord Baltimore, 
wealth : and the republican party, in which Clayborne 
tion ; Mary- was now a leader; but at the Restoration, Lord 
3688 a^'royal Baltimore's authority was generally recognised, 
government. Under his son, the second Lord Baltimore, 
troubles, more or less connected with Bacon's rebellion in 
Virginia, again broke out. A restriction of the suffrage 
by proclamation of the proprietary gave one ground for 
discontent ; the creed of Lord Baltimore was another. 
With the Revolution of 1688 the proprietary government 
was swept away, Maryland was declared a royal govern- 
ment (1691), and the Church of England that of the State. 
Toleration was continued only to dissenters, and the exer- 
cise of the Roman Catholic worship was made illegal. 
About a quarter of a century later, however, the govern- 
ment was restored to the Baltimores, who had meanwhile 
reverted to the Protestant faith ; but from henceforth the 
authority of the proprietaries was but fretfully borne with. 

Like Virginia, Maryland's chief staple was tobacco, 
Similarity and her social condition was very similar ; 
toVirgmia. gj^^ ^^^^ large scattered plantations, but few 
large towns. 

3 & 4. The Caroliiias. — Geography would lead us to 
connect Delaware with Maryland; but its history binds it 
rather to the more Northern States. On the other hand, 
Carolina occupies much the same position towards Vir- 
ginia to the south as Maryland to the north. 

The name, it will be recollected, was originally French, 



1663-5. '^^^^ Thirteen Colonies. 35 

though revived at first under Charles I. as Carolana, 
eventually as Carolina under Charles 1 1 . That 
Raleigh's early attempts at Virginian civilisation ters; Shaftes' 
were made on what became eventually North Lo^^^-^g"*^ 
Carolinian soil will also be recollected. The ' grand 
Carolana charter came to nothing. A different 
charter, of the year 1663, granted the province of Carolina, 
from the 36th degree of north latitude to the riv^er 
San Matheo, to seven proprietaries, the first two named of 
whom were the Lords Clarendon and Albemarle. But 
the whole coast was claimed by Spain. There was a 
previous patent of the year 1630 ; there were settlers from 
New England and Virginia, and others came from Bar- 
badoes. A second and vastly more extended charter 
was granted in 1665 to the proprietaries, which em- 
braced eight whole States of the present Union, parts 
of three others, and much of Mexico. The powers given 
were as extensive as the territory itself, and gave actual 
sovereignty, including not only the right of legislation, 
but that of making war. An elaborate constitution or 

* grand model,' devised by Shaftesbury and Locke on an 
exaggeratedly feudal pattern, with ' starosts,' ' landgraves,' 

* caciques,' '■ leetmen,' the first to be for ever self-elected, 
the last to be for ever- attached to the soil, ^ under the 
jurisdiction of their lord without appeal,' was probably 
the most absurd that had ever been devised by the 
stupidity, let alone the philosophy, of mankind. Human 
nature itself rebelled against it. 

Hence the peculiar characteristic of the foundation of 
Carolina, which has remained in a manner attached to 
her whole history. All other of the American turbulent 
colonies were founded under charters ; in spite early history 
•of these charters, the two Carolinas founded colonies. 
themselves. Their history begins with defiance Slavery. 
of law, not less real because it was necessary. By the 



36 The War of American Indepcndcnee. a.d. 

force of things the one province of Carohna divided 
itself into two governments. The proprietaries vainly- 
endeavoured to enforce the 'grand model;' there was no 
peace till it was given up, and nothing perhaps remained 
of it beyond a provision that every freeman should have 
absolute power and authority over his negro slaves. No 
colonies have a more turbulent early history. Insurgents 
from Virginia found a refuge in North Carolina, and soon 
fomented an outbreak against the enforcement of the navi- 
gation laws. In South Carolina too there were constant 
struggles, though with less violence, and both colonies ex- 
pelled their governors in 1688. South Carolina has the 
grievous distinction of having been cradled in the practice 
of slavery, Africans having been imported into its first 
plantations in 1671. In a few years the blacks in its terri- 
tory were as 22 to 12 whites. Kidnappers as well as slave- 
buyers, the colonists broke the treaties with the Indians, 
harried them with what would be now termed razzias or 
commandos, and sold them as slaves to the West Indies. 
A leaven of French Huguenots in South Carolina after the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and a later one 
of exiled German Protestants in North Carolina (171 1),, 
seems to have done little to raise the tone of Carolinian 
society. 

When the war of the Spanish succession, arising from 
the establishment of a French prince on the throne of 
Thecolo- Spain, broke out, the English colonists of 
nists break South Carolina threw themselves upon Florida. 
civilisation The Spaniards ' had gathered the natives into, 
in Florida, towns, built for them churches, and instructed 
them by missions of Franciscan priests.' The Indians had 
horses and cattle. Fifty volunteers, with 1,000 Indian 
allies, swept down on the Indian towns near St. Mark's,. 
burnt a church, made 150 prisoners, including women 
and children, for the slave market^ received the submission! 



1705-29. ^/^^' Thirteen Colonies. 37 

of town after town, and carried the English flag to the 
Gulf of Mexico (1705). Most of the people ' abandoned 
their homes, and were received as free emigrants into the 
jurisdiction of Carolina.' So perished out of Florida the 
beginnings of Indian civilisation. 

The Peace of Utrecht, which concluded the war, was 
in turn followed by Indian wars in both colonies, with the 
Tuscaroras in North Carolina (17 1 1-3), with the y a- 

^ ' -*'' Indianwars; 

Yamassees in South Carolina (i 71 5) ; the former the Caro- 
caused by the parcelling out of the Indians' colonies, 
lands amongst German emigrants ; the latter ^7^^' 
by the exactions of the English traders. The former 
ended with the migration of the Tuscaroras to the north- 
ward, to join their Iroquois kinsmen, who admitted them 
as the sixth nation in their confederacy (17 15) ; the latter 
with the driving of the Yamassees into Florida. A few 
years later (1719-20) South Carolina openly threw off 
allegiance to the proprietaries, who eventually sold their 
rights to the crown (1729). Both colonies now became 
royal ones. 

5. Georgia. — As Carolina had been carved out of Vir- 
ginia, so was the southernmost and the westernmost of 
the colonies, Georgia, out of Carolina. The 'pj^gj^j^^ 
story of this, the last formed of the British founded 
colonies of North America, reads like a page of ^° ""^* 
the annals of the early half of the seventeenth century 
transferred to that of the eighteenth. 

James Oglethorpe was a member of an old English 
family. He had served as a volunteer in the army of Prince 
Eugene, and had taken part in his campaigns against the 
Turks on the Danube. He had shown in England his 
sympathy for the oppressed; for he had, in Oglethorpe; 
ParHament, taken up the cause of prisoners for his charter 

. . . . . ^'ifi his 

•debt, and by obtaining a commission for in- government, 
quiring into the jails of the kingdom, he had been the means 



38 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

of restoring many hundreds of unfortunates to liberty. 
He now obtained in 1732 a charter from George II., erect- 
ing the country between the Savannah and the Alata- 
maha, and from their head- springs as far as the Pacific, 
into the province of Georgia. The vine and the silkworm 
were to be its staples. Ardent spirits were not to be im- 
ported ; and above all there were to be no slaves. Ogle- 
thorpe himself took out the first party of 120 emigrants, 
and chose the site of Savannah for his capital. The In- 
dians from all sides — Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws — 
proffered their friendship. The Moravians of Salzburg, 
persecuted in their own country, sought a home in Georgia, 
and were followed by many other emigrants, amongst 
whom the most noteworthy were a party of Highlanders. 

A few years later, when war was declared by England 
on Spain in 1 739, Oglethorpe invaded Florida, but failed 
Hostilities to take St. Augustine. A large Spanish fleet 
with Spain, -j^ \yxxvi attacked Georgia, but was beaten off; 
and thanks, in great measure, to the support of the 
Indians, the result of the war (1739-42) was to leave the 
St. John's river as the practical British boundary, although 
the exact frontier between the British and Spanish colo- 
nies remained unsettled by diplomacy. 

Oglethorpe (who had made two intermediate voyages 
to and from Europe) finally left his colony in 1743. His 
T. ., r institutions did not last. The liquor-traffic 

r auure of ^ 

Oglethorpe's was allowed to grow up ; slaves were hired, 
^ '^^^' first for a short period from Carolina, then for 

life or for a hundred years, then imported direct from 
Africa. The famous Whitefield, one of the leaders of the 
Methodist movement, who as well as the two Wesleys 
visited America at this period, urged the expediency of 
allowing slavery. The Moravians remained longer op- 
posed to it, but at last gave in (175 1.) So failed the 
first practical attempt to rescue the American soil for 
freedom. 



1609-25. ^■^^^ Thirteen Colonies. 39 

6 & 7. New York and New yersey. — Georgia com- 
pletes the sub-group of colonies whose history has its root 
in that of Virginia. The next sub-group to the NcwYork 
northward is that of the former Dutch and the centre of 
Swedish colonies, comprising New York, New " sroup, 
Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Here New York is 
the centre, until Pennsylvania rises to substantive im- 
portance. 

The first name in the story of Dutch America is an 
English one. Henry Hudson, sailing in the service of 
the Dutch East India Company, discovered Hudson at 
Delaware Bay, and the river now known by jsiand^."fh"e 
his name (1609). At an interview with the New Neth- 
Indians on the southern point of the island NelvAm- 
now occupied by the city of New York, he sterdam. 
offered the chiefs rum. One only took it in the first in- 
stance; but on seeing him reel and fall, then recover, and 
hearing his account of his sensations, the rest followed 
his example. The place was afterwards called by the 
natives, Manhattan — ' the place of drunkenness.' Ships 
were sent out to trade for furs with the Indians. A few 
huts were erected for the summer shelter of the traders, 
then a few of these remained through the winter, then a 
rude fort was erected, then a settlement was made at 
Albany, still the legal capital of the State of New 
York (1615). But although the Dutch came at first only 
to trade and not to colonise, the Dutch West India 
Company in 1621 was constituted for both purposes. By 
1623 the coast from the southern shore of Delaware Bay to 
Cape Cod became known as New Netherlands; and New 
Amsterdam began to grow up where New York is now. 
The island of Manhattan was bought of the Indians by 
the first governor, Peter Minuits, for 24 dollars (1625). 
To encourage settlement, every man who in four years 
should plant a colony of 50 souls was to be ' patrcon ' or 



40 The Wa7' of American Independence. a.d. 

lord of a tract i6 miles in length. The colonists were 
forbidden to make any woollen, linen, or cotton fabrics; 
in return the Company undertook to supply negroes if it 
could do so profitably. 

The first relations with the English settlers, whether 

New Englanders or Virginians, were friendly. But some 

Dutch settlements in Connecticut were ere 

New Swe- 

den ; even- loug Overwhelmed by the increase of English 
nexedto'the immigration, and the New Netherlands were 
New Neth- themsclves invaded, whilst a colony of Swedes 

erlands. , . . ^ , x-v / ^ r,\ 

made its appearance m Delaware Bay (1638). 
This colony was headed by Peter Minuits himself, for on 
being deposed he had sold his services to Sweden. The 
settlement, prospering for a time, extended itself into what 
is now Pennsylvania, and became known as ' New Sweden.' 
The Dutch moreover became involved in an all but fatal war 
with the Indian tribes, aggravated by a treacherous night 
massacre of Algonquins when they were soliciting the pro- 
tection of the Dutch against their enemies the Mohawks 
(1643). At one time the Dutch had to sue for grace, and 
only obtained a truce through the mediation of Roger 
Williams, whom we shall presently hear of as the founder 
of Rhode Island. But under the leadership of John Un- 
derbill, a New England fugitive, they recovered the upper 
hand, and a solemn treaty was concluded (1645). Under an 
able and mild governor, Stuyvesant, the New Netherlands 
obtained at last from the mother-country freedom of trade, 
and New Amsterdam began to prosper (1648). A few 
years later Stuyvesant annexed New Sweden (1655). 
Although during his absence New Amsterdam was at- 
tacked by the Indians, peace was restored on his return. 

This was the most brilliant period of Dutch colonisation 
in North America ; but the end was near at hand. At the 
Restoration, Charles II. granted the Dutch territory, from 
the Connecticut to tr"*^ Delaware, to his brother the Duke 



1638-98. The Thirteen Colonies. 41 

of York (1664.) A fleet was sent out, and the Dutch 
settlers, who had in vain demanded of the mother-country 
greater pohtical freedom, offered no resistance, r^,^^ ^ , 
The colony and its capital both took the name territory 
of New York, whilst the territory between the by^Eilghnd, 
Hudson and the Delaware was granted by the ?"^ dmded 

° -' into New 

Duke of York to Berkeley, former governor of York and 
Jersey. This territory, under the name of New ^^^•'*^''-^^y- 
Jersey, became a proprietary government under Berkeley 
and Sir George Carteret. New York was indeed recovered 
for a time (1668-74) by Holland through bribery, but passed 
finally to the English by treaty in 1674. The first Eng- 
lish governors, however, allowed the colonists no more 
liberty than their Dutch predecessors had done, and it 
was only in 1683 that, by William Penn's advice to the 
Duke of York, the authority of the provincial assembly 
was recognised, after the recall of an unpopular governor, 
Sir Edmund Andros. But on his accession to the throne 
James II. made Andros governor of New England, to 
which New York was united until the Revolution of 1688, 
when all the colonies subject to Andros revolted. New 
York among the rest, and he himself was sent to England 
for trial. In New York a committee of safety appointed 
Jacob Leisler governor, but after two years he was tried 
for treason and executed under the authority of a new 
governor appointed from England, and until the accession 
to the governorship of Lord Bellamont in 1698, Nev/ 
York was harassed by bad governors. 

The history of New York, it will be seen, has little to 
impress the mind. It was from the first above all things 
a commercial settlement, in which freedom was History of 
of late growth. Of New Jersey still less is to i^^iTinneT- 
be said, although, when separated from New ted with that 

nr 1 , -r- ,. , • , ofPennsyl- 

lork at the English conquest, it became vania. 
rapidly peopled, thanks to a liberal constitution which gave 



42 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

freedom of worship and the exclusive right of self-taxa- 
tion to the colonists. Its history, however, soon became 
mixed up with that of the next great colony of the sub- 
group. 

8 & 9. Pennsylvania and Delaware. — Though lying 
Pennsyl- south of New York, Pennsylvania belongs 
lastfounded niorally rather to the more northern than ta 
of the re- the southem colonies, being in fact the latest 
colonies. bom of what may be termed the religious 
colonies. 

There were Quakers in Maryland as early as the 
middle of the seventeenth century, and they were at first 
Th'^ Quakers ^^^^ unmolcstcd. But by the end of 1657 those 
in America ; persecutions of the * Friends ' commenced which 
deiphia ; in Ncw England were carried as far as death. 
Delaware. Quakerism, however, took root in America ; and 
before long the proprietary rights of Lord Berkeley and 
Sir George Carteret in both West and East New Jersey 
were bought by Quakers, William Penn, son of Admiral 
Penn, among the number. In 1682 Penn obtained from, 
Charles II., in exchange for a claim of 16,000/. against the 
State, the grant of a large tract of country west of the 
Delaware, partly settled already by Swedes and Dutch- 
men. Emigrants were sent out, Penn himself soon fol- 
lowed, and in 1682 founded the city of Brotherly Love,. 
(Philadelphia). He soon afterwards concluded a cele- 
brated treaty with the Indians, which, strange to say,; 
was never broken, so that the history of the Pennsyl- 
vanian colony knows of no Indian wars. The growth of 
Philadelphia was extremely rapid ; it is said to have in- 
creased more in three years than New York in half a 
century. There were, however, boundary disputes with 
Maryland, which were settled by a grant to Penn of half 
the territory between Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware. 
This territory, known at first as the ' three lower counties '" 



1 602-171 8. TJic TJiirteen Colonics. 43 

of Pennsylvania, was eventually separated fron Pennsyl- 
vania, and became the colony of Delaware. 

The constitution of Pennsylvania was liberal, all sects 
being tolerated, and the franchise being open ^j^^ penn- 
to every freeman who believed in God and syivania con- 
abstained from work on the Lord's day. But Penn's pro- 
after Penn's departure for Europe, in 1684, riehtsTonfis- 
discontents arose ; his rents were in part ap- cated in 
propriated for the public service ; and at the 
Revolution of 1688 his proprietary rights were confis- 
cated. He died involved in debt in 1718. 

10, II, 12, 13. New England: Massaclucsctts, Con- 
necticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. We come 
now to the colonies of the New England Early at- 
sub-group, which from the first have formed, tempts at 
and still do form, the very backbone of the 
American nation. Their history goes back to the early 
years of the seventeenth century. Fruitless attempts at 
settlement were made on the northern coast in 1607-8, 
and again in 161 5; from the second, under Smith of 
Virginian fame, the name of New England which he gave 
to the country remained. A Company established by 
King James, and known as the Council of Plymouth 
(1620), received enormous powers, and the ownership of a 
belt of territory stretching from ocean to ocean, between 
the 40th and 48th degrees of north latitude. But the coloni- 
sation of New England was not to issue from its monopoly. 

A congregation of Separatists in the North of England, 
formed towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth (1602), 
had, to escape religious persecution, and not r^^^e 
without much difficulty, taken refuge in Hoi- l^'i's^m 

1 , y r^^ ■, ■,- ^ Fathers. 

land (1608). But the chmate, the manners, 
the language of the country repelled them. Persecuted 
though they had been by their countrymen, they were 
Englishmen to the backbone. They durst not return to 



44 TJie War of American Independence. a.d. 

English soil. But the spirit of enterprise was abroad; 
they thought they might still live for England, if not in 
England. They applied to the London Company, the 
then owners of Virginia, for permission to emigrate 
thither. ' We are knit together as a body,' they wrote, 
* in a most sacred covenant of the Lord, of the violation 
whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof 
we hold ourselves strictly tied to all care of each other's 
good, and of the whole. It is not with us as with men 
whom small things can discourage.' A patent was granted 
to them by the Company, though, as events turned out, it 
never became available (1619). Capital for the enterprise 
was obtained on onerous terms from London merchants. 
Of two ships which set sail in the first instance from 
Southampton, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, the latter 
refused to proceed, and when the Mayflower finally left 
Plymouth on September 6, 1620, the little party were re- 
duced to 102 souls. Their destination was the Hudson 
river; but after 65 days' sail they saw land far to the north- 
ward, and two days later came to anchor within the 
harbour of Cape Cod. Before landing, they entered 
amongst themselves into the following compact, which 
was signed by all the forty-one men, gentle and simple, 
who, Avith their families, made up the 102: — 

' In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are 
undermentioned, the loyal subjects ©f our dread sovereign 
T., • King Tames, by the grace of God, &c., having 

1 heir com- •=> -^ ' •' => ''.'=> 

pact before undertaken, for the glory of God and advance- 
ment of the Christian faith, and honour of our 
king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in 
the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents 
solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one 
of another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil 
body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, 
and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue 



1619-23. TJie TJdrteeii Colonics. 45 

hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal 
laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time 
to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient 
for the general good of the colony, unto which we 
promise all due submission and obedience. In witness 
whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape 
Cod, the nth of November, in the year of the reign of 
our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and 
Ireland the i8th, and of Scotland the fiftie-fourth. Anno 
Dom. 1620.' 

It is not too much to say that all that is highest in 
the polity of the United States to the present day has its 
root in this compact, by which freemen bind themselves 
before God to laws which they have freely adopted. There 
can be no greater contrast than between New England, 
cradled thus in law, and the Carolinas, cradled in defiance 
of law. The whole future history of the States in question 
is in fact prefigured at their birth. 

The season was far advanced, for those northern lati- 
tudes, when the Pilgrims arrived. During the month of 
hardships which was spent in exploration of Early diffi- 
the coast, the water sometimes freezing on ^ulties. 
their clothes and making them ' like coats of iron,' many 
of them took, in the language of one of them, ' the original 
of their death.' At last they fixed upon Plymouth Bay 
for a settlement, and on Monday, December 11 (O.S.) or 
22nd (N.S.) 1620, now ' Forefathers' Day ' in New Eng- 
land, they landed on that which is now ' Forefathers' 
Rock.' During the winter many of their number died, 
the women first. By the end of March 1621, they were 
reduced to about sixty. An arrival of thirty-five new 
emigrants in the autumn, without provisions of their own, 
reduced the whole colony for six months to half allowances. 
Indeed their condition was frequently one of starvation 
until the harvest of 1623, after which ^ there was no general 



46 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

Avant of food.' Their shipments for England were cap- 
tured, and their English partners would only supply them 
with goods at extortionate profits. They failed in all 
their attempts to obtain a royal charter. At the end of 
ten years the colony contained no more than 300 souls. 
But with stubborn heroism they held on. 

Space forbids us to linger over the details of the story, 
the noblest probably in the annals of colonisation. One 
Relations ^'^ ^^^ features, however, must not be over- 
with the looked. The first relations of the Pilgrims 
Massasoit ; with the Indians had been hostile. A shower 
Canonicus. q£- ^rrows had been discharged on one of 
the exploring parties at a place afterwards known as 
'First Encounter.' But on March 15, 1621, a solitary 
Indian, it is said, came out from the forest, and advanced 
towards a party of them, saying the word ' welcome.' He 
had learnt some English from the fishermen who fre- 
quented the coast, and although his tale was one of the 
usual violence on the part of a white man named Hunt, 
■who, having enticed Indians on board his ships, had 
carried them off and sold them as slaves, he showed him- 
self friendly, and stayed the night. He left next morning 
with a few presents, and returned some days afterwards 
with five other Indians, including oneof the men kidnapped 
by HuntjWhobecame interpreter to the English. On March 
22 they had an interview with the great Indian sachem of 
the country, Massasoit, and a treaty of alliance offensive 
and defensive was concluded — ' the oldest act of diplomacy 
recorded in New England.' Massasoit's object seems 
to have been to obtain allies against his enemies the 
Narragansetts, and their chief Canonicus, head of 5,000 
warriors. Probably as a result of the alliance, a mes- 
senger from Canonicus appeared in the autumn of 1622, 
and left with the English a token of war in the shape of a 
iDundle of arrows tied in a rattlesnake's skin. Governor 



1 622. TJic Thirteen Colonies. 47 

Bradford, the elected chief of the colonists, sent back the 
skin filled with powder and bullets, and the Indians 
refrained from war. But the Pilgrims were in the fol- 
lowing year involved in hostilities through the miscon* 
duct of another colony of mere adventurers, known as 
Weston's colony, who wasted their stores, hired them- 
selves to the Indians to obtain food, and then robbed 
them. It will be remembered that this was the period 
when the Virginian colonists were involved in a fierce war 
with the Indians, consequent upon the Indian massacre 
(1622). The facts were known to both races, and a con- 
spiracy similar to the Virginian one was formed for the ex- 
termination of the New England pale-faces as well. Mas- 
sasoit revealed the design, and a colonist named Standish, 
with four others, ' having got the chiefs of the conspiracy 
into a wigwam, gave the signal, sprang suddenly upon 
them, secured the door, and buried his knife in the heart ' 
of one of the fiercest of the chiefs. The other Indians 
were massacred, except one who was hanged. The 
Indians took to flight, and eventually sued for peace ; but 
Weston's colonists all perished or disappeared. 

Friendly intercourse with the Indians seems afterwards 
to have been renewed, yet to have itself aided in causing 
the degeneration of their race. The Enghsh, The Indians 
being far superior to the Indians in agriculture, degenerate, 
soon produced more corn than enough for their own con- 
sumption, which they sold to the Indians. On the other 
hand, the only articles in which a profitable trade could 
be carried on by the colonists with England were beaver 
and other skins, which the Indians procured for them. 
Hence it came to pass that the Indians ' abandoned cul- 
ture,' and betook themselves entirely to the chase, trusting 
to the colonists for their supply of corn. Their doom was 
as thoroughly sealed by this step backwards from the posi- 
tion of a semi-agricultural community into that of mere 



48 The War of American Independence, a.d, 

hunters, as it would have been by immediate extermina- 
tion. 

Various other settlements followed those of the Pil- 
grims. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason (1622) 
obtained from the Council of Plymouth an extensive grant 
of land, which resulted in the settlement of what is now 
the State of New Hampshire. John Endicott, under 
Settlement another grant from the same Company, made a 
Ham'^Thire Settlement in Massachusetts Bay (1628), at first 
INiassachu- at Salem, a town which was soon afterwards 
Rhode ^' eclipsed in importance by Boston. A young 
RcT^r Wil- preacher, Roger Williams, who had settled in 
liams. the former town, was sentenced to exile by the 

Puritans for teaching absolute freedom of conscience. He 
took to flight ; wandered about for fourteen weeks, ^ not 
knowing what bread or bed did mean.' But the Indians^ 
to whom he had always been friendly, received him. 
From the Narragansett chiefs, Canonicus and Mianto- 
nomo, he received an extensive grant of land, which grew 
eventually into the colony of Rhode Island. It was to be 
a pure democracy, without any state-worship. All manner 
of fugitives resorted to him, and the colony increased 
and prospered, though Cotton Mather, a celebrated New 
England divine, spoke of Rhode Island as a ' colluvies ' of 
'■ everything but Rom.an Catholics and true Christians.' 

The growth of Massachusetts soon attracted great 
numbers of emigrants. Three thousand came in 1635, 
including two men whose names were soon to 
growth of become celebrated in their mother country, the 
set^tf-^Vane Preacher Hugh Peters, and Henry Vane the 
and Mrs. youngcr, better known as Sir Harry Vane, the 
subject of one of Milton's noble sonnets. Vane 
was elected governor, but soon got into trouble with the 
Puritans through favouring Mrs. Hutchinson, another 
new-comer, a woman of great eloquence but extreme 



1635-7. The Thirteen Colonies. 49 

religious views, who was eventually excommunicated. 
Mrs. Hutchinson took refuge in Rhode Island, and having 
after her husband's death moved into the Dutch territory', 
was killed with all her family, except one daughter, by the 
Indians. Vane left for England (1637.) 

Vane's departure took place during the first great 
Indian war of the northern colonies, arising out of the 
settlement of what is now the State of Connec- Settlement 
ticut, by emigrants from Massachusetts. Two cut^'the^"'" 
Englishmen had been killed by the Pequod Pequod war. 
Indians — the first, it would seem, only in revenge for the 
kidnapping and murder of an Indian chief An expedition 
was sent from Massachusetts which ravaged the Indian 
country, burning houses and corn. The Pequods tried to 
gain over the Narragansett Indians, their hereditary foes, 
into an alliance against thewhites. Roger Williams in vain 
endeavoured to conciliate the red men ; but the Narra- 
gansetts eventually declined to join the league. Connec- 
ticut declared war upon the Pequods ; a body of eighty 
English set out to attack them. The Narragansetts 
would not join them, deeming them too few ; but Uncas, 
chief of the Mohegans, brought 100 warriors to their aid. 
The combined body surprised at night the chief village of 
the Pequods, set it on fire, ' formed a circle round the burn- 
ing huts, and slew their enemies without mercy as the fire 
drove them into sight. Six hundred Pequods, men, women, 
and children, perished in an hour, while but two of the Eng- 
lish were lost.' Three hundred more Pequods who arrived 
the next morning were defeated after a fierce resistance, 
and the rest of the tribe driven from place to place and but- 
chered, alike by the red-faces and the pale; 200 surrendered, 
and were either sold into slavery or incorporated among 
the friendly tribes, and the Pequod people disappeared 
from the face of the earth. 

The turn of the Narragansetts came next. Connec- 

M. H. E 



50 The War of Amei'icaii Independence, a.d. 

ticut accused the chief Miantonomo to the Massachusetts 
Cruel fate of magistrates of plotting. Being summoned to 
Miantonomo Boston, hc came,and dared his accusers to meet 
gansett. him face to face, declaring that this was a false 
accusation of Uncas the Mohegan, and that he would be 
revenged. He watched for his opportunity, and in 1643 
invaded Uncas's territory. But the Mohegans had the 
best of the fight ; Miantonomo was taken prisoner. 
Uncas feared to kill him, and took him to Hartford to ask 
leave of the magistrates. He was kept prisoner till the 
meeting of the commissioners of the United Colonies at 
Boston, two months later. The commissioners were in 
doubt, and consulted five ministers. They quoted the 
fate of Agag, and doomed Miantonomo to death. He 
was delivered over to Uncas, whose brother, marching 
behind him, sunk a hatchet into his brain. Such was the 
end of ' the most potent Indian prince the people of New 
England ever had to do with,' of whom a governor of 
Rhode Island declared that he, ' with his uncle Canonicus, 
were the best friends and greatest benefactors the colony 
ever had.' 

Mention has been made just now of the ' United 
The ' United Colonics.' This remarkable union between 
New^Eng"^ the four northern colonies, which prefigured 
land. the giant confederacy of the present day, 

must now be briefly noticed. 

The New England colonies had almost from the first 
been treated as step-children by the English state. 
The oppres- Ships bound for New England had been de- 
siye conduct tained in the Thames by order of the Council 

of Charles I. ^r»\ rr^i /• 

leads to a of State (1634, 1 638.) The letters-patent of 
federation. ^^ Company had been ordered to be pro- 
duced in England. Stranger still and more offensive, a 
special commission had been issued for the American 
colonies, empowering Archbishop Laud and others to 



1643-51- ^^^^ Thirteen Colonies, 5 1 

establish the government, frame the laws, regulate the 
church, inflict punishments, and even to revoke charters 
surreptitiously obtained or harmful to the prerogative. 
When such measures were set at nought, emigration was 
restrained, no person over the rank of a servant being 
allowed to leave for the colony without the permission of 
the commissioners. Only with the growth of parlia- 
mentary resistance to Charles I. did a friendlier spirit 
prevail. The neighbourhood of the Dutch appears to 
have suggested the idea of federation. But of the four 
settlements which formed ' the United Colonies of New 
England' in 1643 only two, Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut, still remain on the list of States, the other two, New 
Haven and Plymouth, having long since lost any separate 
existence. Whilst the local self-government of the 
several colonies was jealously reserved, the conduct of the 
general affairs of the confederacy was entrusted to com- 
missioners, two from each colony. These not only had 
charge of the common relations with the Indian tribes, 
but concluded an actual treaty with the governor of the 
neighbouring French colony of Acadia. 

During the civil war, Massachusetts for a time re- 
mained neutral, and claimed a large degree of indepen- 
dence. Itrefusedtwice, both before and after the Mas^achu- 
execution of the king, to accept a new charter setts^during 
from the parliament, and through its agent in monweaith. 
England publicly denied the jurisdiction of parliament over 
America; but it acknowledged the Commonwealth, and, on 
the passing of an ordinance against the royalist colonies, 
prohibited for a time, by its own enactment, intercourse 
with Virginia. With Cromwell indeed, who seems to have 
had a strong sympathy with the New Englanders, the 
friendliest relations were established, and he even endea- 
voured to procure settlers for Ireland from among them. 
His Navigation Act (165 1) — far less oppressive than that of 



52 The War of American Independejice. a.d. 

the Restoration — was favourably received by the colonies, 
and indeed its provisions against foreign commerce were 
scarcely enforced. The American colonies remained in 
profound peace until the Restoration, and acknowledged 
in turn without demur Richard Cromwell as Protector 
and Charles XL as king. 

Some important events in New England history 
belong to the period of the Restoration (1660-88). The 
The Resto- enlargement of Connecticut by the incorpora- 
ration. ^jqj-^ ^^j^-j^ j^ ^f Y\^\\ Haven (1665) may be 

dismissed in a line. 'King Phihp's war' deserves a 
longer notice. 

Some sincere attempts had been made in New 
England for the conversion of the Indians. John Eliot, 
known as 'the Apostle of the Indians,' devoted him- 
self to those of Massachusetts, and translated the Bible 
jrjj^^ into Algonquin. Villages of 'praying Indians' 

Philip's were established ; an Indian became a Bache 

lor of Arts. But other tribes were jealous 
alike of the white man and of his faith. The new-comers 
were about two to one of the red men. The Wampanoags, 
the old allies of the English, found themselves crowded 
into two peninsulas, and almost driven into the sea. 
Old Massasoit was dead. Of his two sons, one had died 
of a fever ' brought on by mortification at being arrested 
and imprisoned by the English.' His other son, who re- 
mained in sole possession of the chieftainship, was Philip 
— King Philip, as he is always termed in American 
history — the leader in the last of the Indian wars of New 
England. It seems certain that there was no conspiracy; 
the origin of the war was accidental. An Indian 
informer was killed by his tribe ; the murderers were 
arrested, tried, and convicted by a jury, of which, it must 
be observed, one half were Indians, and hanged. In 
revenge, the young Indian braves attacked an English 



1665-84. TJie TJih'teen Colonies. 53 

settlement and killed eight or nine Englishmen (1675). 
King Philip is said to have wept when he heard that a 
white man's blood had been shed. He had but 700 
warriors, and was surrounded by the English ; he knew 
that victory was impossible. Within a week the Indians 
were driven from their quarters ; within a month Phihp 
was a fugitive among the Indians of the interior. But it 
was only now that the real danger of the war for the 
colonists began. Philip moved from place to place among 
the Indian tribes, urging them to war against the English. 
From Maine to Connecticut they rose, almost to a tribe; 
the Mohegans forming the one signal exception. The 
Narragansetts, who had promised neutrality, were dragged 
into the fray. For a whole year terror reigned. Twelve 
or thirteen towns were destroyed, and 600 houses burnt. 
The same number of colonists perished, forming, it was 
reckoned, one-twentieth of the whole number of able- 
bodied men. But the continuousness of civilised warfare 
soon broke the energy of the Indians. The Narragansetts 
were destroyed. The New Hampshire tribes gave in. 
Philip, chased from place to place with the remnant of his 
braves, broken-hearted through the capture of his wife and 
child, turned his face once more to the hunting-grounds of 
his fathers. Here at last he was surprised in a swamp by 
a body of partisans, and shot by an Indian among them. 
His body was brutally treated, his head carried round the 
colony in triumph, his son sold as a slave in Bermuda. 
So perished the last of the blood of Massasoit, the first 
Indian ally of the Pilgrims (1676). 

King Philip's war lasted but a year. The struggle of 
Massachusetts against the oppressions of the Restoration 
may be said to have lasted twenty-eight years. In the 
course of it her charter was declared forfeited (1684). 
The Assembly of Rhode Island was dissolved ; the sur- 
render of the Connecticut charter, which was hidden 



54 The War of American Lidependence. a.d. 

away in a 'charter oak' till the Revolution of 1688, was 
, ^ demanded ; and three years of despotic rule. 

Struggle of 1 • -u 1 . .• r i 

Massachu- during which almost every vestige of popular 
the Re^^ora- government in New England was swept away, 
tion Govern- -were endured under Sir Edmund Andros, in 

ment. Ihe 

Revolution whose hands was concentrated the government 
° ^ ■ of all the northern colonies as far south as 

the frontier of Maryland. But on the news of the Revo- 
lution of 1688 a single wave 6f insurrection swept away 
from every colony the whole fabric of his despotism, and 
William and Mary were proclaimed everywhere with en- 
thusiastic rejoicings. 

Two years after the Revolution — war having broken 
out between England and France in 1689 — the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts established after the fall of Andros 
Warfare (1690), Summoned together at New York a 
with the congress of delegates from all the colonies as 

French 00 

till 1748. far as Maryland. The result of their delibera- 
tions was nothing less than a resolution to attempt the 
conquest of the then French province of Canada, by a 
land attack on Montreal, while a fleet from Massachusetts 
should assail Quebec. Considering that the French 
population of the North American colonies, by the census 
of 1688, was only 1 1,249, o^"? say, a twentieth of that of the 
English colonies, the design might seem an easy one. 
The maritime province of Acadia (now Nova Scotia) was 
indeed soon annexed. But the French, as has been 
mentioned, were on friendly terms with the Indian 
tribes, except the Iroquois ; and a war with France was 
nearly the same thing as a general Indian war. Al- 
though the Iroquois took Montreal, the colonists were 
everywhere repelled, and their frontiers desolated by the 
inroads of the Indians, whether led or not by the French. 
The English were driven from Hudson's Bay by the 
Canadian d'Iberville (p. 19), and Acadia was recovered. 



1689-1748- ^-^^^ Thirteen Colonies. 55 

The result of the war was favourable to France. The 
Peace of Ryswick (1697) caused little more than a sus- 
pension of hostilities, and the war that broke out again 
in 1 701 was marked by the conquest of Acadia, and 
by an attempt to conquer Canada, but was otherwise 
nearly as disastrous to the English colonists of the 
north as the former one. It was, however, terminated 
by a very favourable peace, that of Utrecht (1713), the 
terms of which have been already mentioned. From 
this period till the middle of the century there was only 
border warfare with the Indians, during which the French 
missions in Massachusetts, among their allies, the Abe- 
nakis of Maine, whose territory had been comprised in 
the French cessions at the peace, were ruthlessly de- 
stroyed ; cessions of territory being obtained, by fair or 
foul means, from the Indians. These gave local occa- 
sion to a war known in colonial history as * King George's 
War,' corresponding to the war termed that of the Austrian 
succession in Europe, in which a force consisting of New 
Englanders only took Louisburg, the stronghold of the 
then French colony of Cape Breton, and the strongest 
fortress in North America. It was, however, restored 
to France (to the great disgust of the colonists) at the 
peace of 1748. 

We have now come to the period when there begins 
to be, for the English settlements of North America, a 
general colonial history. But before entering upon it, as 
must be done in order to make our acquaintance with 
some of the future leaders, mihtary or civil, in the War of 
Independence, a few words must be said of the third 
element in the colonial population. 

III. The Black Man. 
It has been already said that the first negro slaves 
were brought by Dutchmen for sale into Virginia in 1620. 



$6 The War of American Indepe7idence. a.d. 

The New England public generally was at first opposed 
Growth of ^^ ^^^ practice, and there is even a record of 
slavery. a slave, who had been sold by a member of the 
Boston church, being ordered to be sent back to Africa 
(1645). Yet negro slaves were to be found in New 
England as early as 1638. Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut recognised the lawfulness of slavery ; Massachusetts, 
however, only when voluntary, or in the case of captives 
taken in war. Rhode Island, more generous, made ille- 
gal the perpetual service of ' black mankind,' requiring 
them to be set free after two years, the period of white 
men's indentures — a condition which, however, would only 
tend to the working slaves to death in the allotted time. 
But although there was no importation of negroes on any 
considerable scale into New England, the ships by which 
the slave trade was mainly carried on were those from Mas- 
sachusetts and Rhode Island, which carried rum to Africa, 
and brought back slaves to the West Indies and the south- 
ern colonies. In Maryland slavery had been established 
at once ; in South Carolina, as before observed, it came 
into birth with the colony itself. The failure of the attempt 
to exclude it from Georgia has been told already. 

The guilt of the institution cannot, however, be fairly 

charged on the colonists. Queen Elizabeth had been a 

partner in the second voyage of Sir John 

Royal slave ^ ^ , . , ,, _.,.,, 

traders; the Hawkms, the first English slave captain. 
Asiento. james I. chartered a slave trading company 
(1618), Charles I. a second (1631) ; Charles II. a third 
(1663), of which the Duke of York was president, and 
again a fourth, in which he himself, as well as the Duke, 
was a subscriber. Nor did the expulsion of the Stuarts 
cause any change of feeling in this respect. England's 
sharpest stroke of business at the peace of Utrecht (1713) 
was the obtaining for herself the shameful monopoly of 
the ' Asiento/ — i.e. the slave trade with the Spanish West 



1638-1750- T lie Black Man, 57 

Indies — undertaking 'to bring into the West Indies of 
America belonging to his Cathohc Majesty, in the space 
of thirty years, 144,000 negroes,' at the rate of 4,800 a 
year, at a fixed rate of duty, with the right to import any 
further number at a lower rate. As nearly the whole 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico were still Spanish, England 
thus contributed to build up slavery in most of the future 
Southern States of the Union. Whether for foreign or 
for English colonies, it is reckoned that from 1700 to 
1750, English ships carried away from Africa probably 
a million and a half of negroes, of whom one-eighth never 
lived to see the opposite shore. 

In the same spirit England dealt with her colonies. 
When Virginia imposed a tax on the import of negroes, 
the law had to give way before the interest of 
the African Company. The same course was slavery and 
followed many years later towards South Caro- trade^by the 
lina, when an act of the provincial assembly mother 
laying a heavy duty on imported slaves was 
vetoed by the crown (1761). Indeed the title to a political 
tract pubhshed in 1745, 'The African slave trade the 
great pillar and support of the British plantation trade in 
America,' appears fairly to express the prevalent feeling 
of the mother country on the subject before the War of 
Independence. The most remarkable relaxation of the 
Navigation Laws in the eighteenth century was the 
throwing open the slave trade by the act ' for extending 
and improving the trade to Africa' (1750 ; 23 Geo. II., 
c. 31), which after reciting that 'the trade to and from 
Africa is very advantageous to Great Britain, and neces- 
sary for the supplying the plantations and colonies there- 
unto belonging with a sufficient number of negroes at 
reasonable rates,' enacted that it should be lawful ' for all 
his Majesty's subjects to trade and traffick to and from 
any port or place in Africa, between the port of Sallee in 



58 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

South Barbary and the Cape of Good Hope.' By 1763, 
there were about 300,000 negroes in the North American 
colonies. 

General Colo7iial History, 1748-64. 

When ' King George's War' ended by the restoration 
of Louisburg to the French, it seemed as if it had been 
Connection ^o^ght out for nothing. Yet it was destined to 
of King have a place in the history of the world, through 

George s , .... - . . 

War with the Connexion with it of a certain ex-printers- 
Franklin. ^evil, who was to bccome one of the leaders in 
the coming struggle between England and her colonies. 
This was Benjamin Franklin. 

Franklin represents, under its noblest aspect, the 
shrewd side of the American character, before it has 
Benjamin developed into ' cuteness ' or ' smartness.' The 
rte author ^^^ °^ ^ ^°^P ^'^^ candlc manufacturer in Bos- 
of the first ton (bom 1706), he had been employed at ten 
ganis^at^o*n in ycars of age in cutting wicks and filling candle- 
tiie colonies, nioulds, but was already an insatiable reader. 
At twelve he was apprenticed to an elder brother, a 
printer, who in 1721 established a paper called the 'New 
England Courant,' and young Benjamin at fifteen both 
helped in printing, distiibuted the copies, and contributed 
matter of his own. But the paper got into trouble 
through a too free criticism of the ministers of religion. 
James Franklin was thrown into prison for a month, and 
forbidden to print the paper except under previous super- 
vision ; Benjamin escaped with an admonition. The 
outlook was not promising, and moreover his brother was 
of violent temper. At seventeen Benjamin ran away to 
New York ; found there no employment, and after various 
wanderings reached Philadelphia with a dollar in his 
pocket. Here, however, he obtained a situation in one of 
the two existing printing offices, and soon prospered. 



1748-64- General Colonial History. 59 

He was able to come to Europe, and after eighteen 
months' residence in London returned to Philadelphia, 
and set up a printing- press of his own. Besides being 
ready to put his hand to any branch of the printing trade? 
he could ' make types and woodcuts, and engrave vig- 
nettes in copper,' He became printer to the Assembly ; 
established a newspaper ; the first American circulating 
library (1730) ; a celebrated almanac, called ' Poor 
Richard's Almanac' (1732), which he continued for 
twenty-five years ; and the American Philosophical 
Society (1736). He also became clerk to the Assembly. To 
him again was due the first permanent military organi- 
sation in the colonies, through the establishment, during 
King George's War, of a militia in Pennsylvania (1747), 
comprising over 120 companies of 100 men each. Frank- 
lin was elected to the command of a regiment, but would 
only serve as a private. A few years later his discoveries 
in electricity, crowned by the feat of drawing lightning 
from the clouds by means of a key and a silken kite 
(175 1), rendered his name famous in science throughout 
the world. 

Like King George's War, a desultory' colonial warfare 
known as the ' French and Indian War,' which preceded 
and at last merged in the war known in The 'French 
Europe as the Seven Years War, has be- and Indian 
come historical, as having first brought into George 
prominence a young surveyor named George "Washington. 
Washington. The boundary between the French and 
Enghsh colonies to the west of the latter had never been 
fixed. A company called the Ohio Company, of which 
Augustine Washington was a member, had obtained 
from the English crown a grant of 500,000 acres on the 
Ohio. But the valley of that river had already been 
taken possession of by the French, who broke up a 
British post on the Miami river, one of the northern 



6o The War of American Independence, a.d. 

affluents of the Ohio, carrying off its occupants to Canada, 
and severely punishing the Indian alhes of the Enghsh. 
Two posts were even estabhshed in north-western 
Pennsylvania. George Washington (born 1732), son of 
Augustine Washington, had attracted the notice of Lord 
Fairfax, an extensive landowner in Virginia, and through 
his influence had been appointed at nineteen adjutant- 
general. He was now sent by Governor Dinwiddie of 
Virginia (1753) to the two new French posts, to ask the 
reason of the French intrusion on British territory. The 
French commanders made no secret of their purpose ; 
they were to take possession of the whole of the Ohio 
valley, and destroy every English post. Amidst many 
dangers, Washington found his way back, and reported 
the results of his mission. By his recommendation, the 
Ohio Company began constructing a fort on the site of 
what is now Pittsburg, at the junction of the Alleghany 
and Monongahela rivers. But it was taken by the French 
before the spot could be reached by a body of soldiers 
to whose command Washington had succeeded on the 
march ; and the fort was completed by the French under 
the name of Fort Duquesne. A successful night skirmish 
with the French and a gallant defence in a stockade, for 
which Washington had thrown up with his own hands the 
first shovelful of earth, only resulted in his being allowed 
to march away with the honours of war, retaining stores 
and baggage. The French occupied the whole country to 
the Alleghanies. 

The state of things was felt to be serious. Delegates 
from all the colonies north of the Potomac met at Albany 

T.,- . (1754)? the Iroquois being invited to the council. 
proposed A plan was brought forward by Benjamin 
congress. Franklin, and adopted for reference to the 
colonies themselves. According to this plan a congress, 
composed of from two to seven delegates, was to meet an- 



1748-64. General Colonial History. 61 

nually at Philadelphia, with power to originate all laws, 
appoint civil officers, issue money, deal with the Indians, 
regulate trade, govern new settlements, raise soldiers, and 
levy taxes, subject, however, to the veto of a governor- 
general appointed by the crown, each colony retaining 
its own legislature and independence in internal affairs. 
Nothing came of it at that time ; the seed was one which 
needed yet nearly a quarter of a century for its growth. 

The English Government became alarmed, and sent 
over troops under General Braddock. Four 
expeditions at once were planned, the principal Braddock's 
one, commanded by General Braddock himself, *^^^^^'^- 
with George Washington as his aide-de-camp, against the 
French in the Ohio valley. Braddock derided all 
warnings of Indian surprises, and with his 2,000 men 
advanced slowly, striking terror at first both into the 
French and the Indians. On July 9, 1755, moving along 
the back of the Monongahela river, on a path about 
twelve feet wide, with wooded ravines ten feet deep on 
each side, which eventually met, he was suddenly attacked 
at the point of junction by a much smaller force of French 
and Indians, extending on both sides. The war-whoops 
and the shots from unseen foes struck a panic terror into 
the English troops, and only the Virginia Rangers, a 
colonial corps, offered an effectual resistance. Braddock, 
after seeing all his aides-de-camp disabled except Wash- 
ington, after having five horses wounded under him, and 
receiving a musket ball through the lungs, at last by 
Washington's advice gave the signal for a retreat. The 
retreat became a rout, and stores and artillery, and the 
private papers of the general, were left behind. The loss 
amounted to 26 officers killed, 37 wounded, and 714 
privates, while the enemy lost only 3 officers and 30 men 
killed, and as many wounded. Washington, after dis- 
playing conspicuous bravery on the battle-field, did his 



62 The War of American I ndependejice. a.d. 

best to cover the retreat; but the panic spread to the 
garrison of Will's Creek, on which the fugitives fell back. 
Will's Creek was evacuated, and 100,000/. of stores and 
artillery destroyed. Braddock died the fourth day after 
his defeat. 

Of the other three expeditions, the first resulted in 

the rebuilding and garrisoning of a fort at Oswego, at the 

south-east end of Lake Ontario ; a second (after 

New"Bruns- a victory over the French) in the erection of 

wick ; ex- Yoxt William Henry, at the southern end 

pulsion ot ■' ' 

the Aca- of Lake George. The third, landing near 
the Bay of Fundy, subdued the country now 
known as New Brunswick, between Maine and Nova 
Scotia. This was followed by the barbarous measure of 
the expulsion of the Acadians, or French of Nova Scotia, 
7,000 of whom were shipped off to the southern colonies, 
an event to which Mr. Longfellow's well-known poem of 
* Evangeline ' owes its subject. 

War was only formally declared in 1756, and its first 
operations were again entirely favourable to the French, 
French ^^^ Under the distinguished general, Mont- 

successes, calm, reduced successively both Fort Oswego 
and Fort William Henry, the capture of the latter being 
followed by a massacre of the garrison by the Indian 
aUies of the French. At the close of 1757, it is stated that 
the English possessions in America were to those of the 
French but as one to twenty. 

On the accession to power of the elder Pitt, the ' great 
Lord Chatham ' of history, more efficient measures were 
taken by the English, and the tide of fortune 
defeated ; turned decidedly in their favour. One expe- 
^T^fe^red • ^ition occupied Louisburg, and took possession 
Peace of of Cape Breton and Prince Edward's Island. 
An attack on the French fort of Ticonderoga 
on Lake George failed; but Washington, with his Virginia 



1748-64. General Colonial History. 63 

Rangers, forming part of an army under General Forbes, 
drove the French out of Fort Duquesne (1758), and 
changed the name of the place to Pittsburg, in honour of 
the great minister. On his return from this expedition, 
he was elected (at twenty-seven) a member of the Vir- 
ginian House of Burgesses. The next year was marked 
by the driving of the French from the country between 
Pittsburg and Lake Erie, from their fort of Niagara, from 
Ticonderoga and Lake Champlain, and still more by 
the magnificent achievement of the battle and taking of 
Quebec, in which the commanders on both sides, Wolfe 
and Montcalm, perished. This event was followed in 
1760 by the surrender of Montreal, with the whole of 
Canada, and the two important posts of Mackinaw, at 
the junction between Lakes Michigan and Huron, and 
Detroit, which commands the water communication be- 
tween Lakes Huron and Erie. When, three years later, 
peace was concluded (February 10, 1763), Spain gave 
up Florida to England ; and France formally ceded, in 
North America alone, Louisiana to the Mississippi 
(without New Orleans), all Canada, Acadia, Cape Breton 
and its islands, and the fisheries with a few reservations. 
Never it was said, was so glorious a war, so honourable 
a peace. 

Although extending beyond the period of which we 
have been speaking, there is a sequel which belongs to 
it, in the shape of a war with the Indians, pontiac's 
named after their leader, an Ottawa chief. War. 
' Pontiac's war.' Misled by his eloquence, a number of 
Indian tribes suddenly rose on the English, surprised nine 
garrisons in a day, occupied the fort of Mackinaw, and 
besieged Pittsburg and Detroit. But the garrison of the 
latter held out for months, and, as usual, the Indians could 
not keep together. Pontiac held on till all but his Ottawas 
deserted him. All the hostile tribes, two only excepted, 



64 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

successively treated with the English (1764). Pontiac took 
refuge among the Illinois, and tried to form another con- 
federacy against the English, but was stabbed at a council 
by an Indian who was friendly to them. This was Vir- 
ginia's last Indian war, as King Philip's war had been 
the last Indian war of New England. 

At the close of this period the most populous of the 
American colonies were Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, 
The colo- Boston and Philadelphia containing nearly 
nies in 1763. ig^oo inhabitants cach, while New York had as 
yet only 12,000. The population was chiefly agricultural, 
though manufactures were already largely carried on in 
the North. There was a brisk coast trade, and the New 
Englanders had engaged in the whale fishery. Rice, 
indigo, and to some extent cotton, were produced in the 
South ; tar and turpentine in North Carolina ; tobacco, 
as well as the almost universal maize, in Virginia and 
Maryland. 



CHAPTER III. 



CAUSES OF DISCONTENT.— STRUGGLE BEFORE THE WAR 

(1763-75). 

Montcalm, it is said, predicted that if France lost 
Montcalm's America, in ten years more America would be 
prediction, jj^ revolt against England. He was not far out 
in his prediction. 

It may have already appeared from the preceding 
sketch that the history of the English colonies in North 
Mingled America presents a curious blending of loyalty 
loyalty and ^^^ disaffection. The colonists were always 

disaffection r i i r V 

of colonies, ready to fly to arms for the honour of the 
British name — and the enlargement of their own borders — 



1660-79. Causes of Discontent. 65 

against their French and Spanish neighbours ; but within 
their own limits there was a constant straining, rising not 
unfrequently to rebelhon, against the authority which the 
crown, its representatives or grantees, sought to exercise 
over them. 

One abiding source of irritation, since the latter half 
of the seventeenth century, lay in the English Navigation 
Laws. The Navigation Act of the Common- The Navi- 
wealth had had for its object the securing to gation laws. 
English vessels the carrying trade of the colonies with 
England. The Navigation Acts of Charles II. confined to 
English vessels, navigated by Englishmen, all importation 
of merchandise into and exportation from the colonies, and 
even forbad any importation of European commodities into 
colonies except from England, whilst aliens were also for- 
bidden to act as merchants or factors in the colonies (1660, 
1662). Still more monstrous was a subsequent act, which 
forbad all the principal colonial staples to be exported 
otherwise than to England, so that a duty equivalent to 
the English customs duty was laid on the importation of 
such articles from one colony into another. 

All the colonies soon began to suffer under this legis- 
lation. We have seen by what wild expedients Virginia 
sought to defend herself against its ill effects, struggle 
The struggle against it in New England de- Nav^gaibn 
serves closer notice, as having been carried on Laws, in 

, r 1 • 1 • /-^ 1 f ■ New Eng- 

by means of legislation. On the first passing land espe- 
of the Navigation Act the General Court of "^'^^'y- 
Massachusetts published a declaration of rights, which 
included that of rejecting 'any parliamentary or royal 
imposition prejudicial to the country, and contrary to any 
just act of colonial legislation.' It was only after this 
that Charles II. was proclaimed. Ten years after the 
passing of the Navigation Act it was not enforced in 
Massachusetts. It was only in 1679 ^^^.t the General 
M. H. F 



66 The War of A. merican Independence, a. d. 

Court, whilst declaring that ' the Acts of Navigation were 
an invasion of the rights and privileges of the subjects of 
his Majesty in the colony, they not being represented in 
parliament,' and that ' the laws of England do not reach 
America,' yet gave them effect by an act of its own. Then 
came the confiscation of the charters of the northern 
colonies, and the appointment of Sir Edmund Andros as 
governor of all New England. 

The history of the struggle of the American, or, we 
might say the New England, colonies against the govern- 
T., . ment of the Restoration has been scarcely 

■ Ihe coming •' 

contest pre- Studied cnougli. It prefigures most remark- 
"^ ' ably that larger struggle which a century later 

was to rend thirteen colonies away from the mother 
country. The principle at issue was exactly the same — 
the right of the mother country to interfere in the internal 
matters of the colonies, and with the carrying on of their 
trade. It is supposed that at the period of the Revolution 
of 1688 the colonies of North America contained together 
not much more than 200,000 souls. Had there been 
2,000,000, the rule of governors like Berkeley and Andros 
would probably never have been tolerated, whatever might 
have been the course of politics in England. Moreover, 
the discontents engendered by the Restoration were not 
appeased by the successors of James 11. Notwithstand- 
ing the enthusiasm with which Wilham had been pro- 
claimed, Massachusetts had to spend two years in 
obtaining a new charter, and lost under it the right of 
electing officers, who were henceforth to be appointed by 
the governor or the crown. In New York, as will be 
recollected, Leisler, the elected governor, after ruling for 
nearly two years in the king's name, was executed for 
high treason. He was looked upon as a martyr, and 
pieces of his clothes Avere saved as relics. 

At the Peace of Utrecht (171 3) the Navigation Laws 




ondoii . -Lo/iffmans & Co. 



Jiiiwf'vYeller. 



1713-48- Causes of Discontent. 6^ 

were so far relaxed that trade was permitted between Great 
Britain and Spain, and their respective plan- other cau es 
tations and provinces, 'where hitherto trade ofdiscon- 
and commerce had been accustomed ' — a clear 
indication of the habitual violation of the law up to that 
time. Sir Robert Walpole indeed made it a maxim to 
encourage the trade of the American colonies, passing 
over some of their ' irregularities ' in trading with Europe. 
But the growth of manufactures in the colonies was dis- 
couraged on the express ground, as stated in a resolution 
of the House of Commons, that it ' tended to lessen their 
dependence on Great Britain.' The transport of hats, 
for instance, from one colony to another, was forbidden, 
because the manufacture of them was ' daily increasing in 
the British plantations in America' (1732). An absolute 
prohibition of the manufacture of iron wares was all but 
carried. Any relaxations of the navigation laws that w^ere 
enacted, were mainly in favour of tropical products, as 
sugar and rice ; but parliament went so far as to impose 
a customs duty on the import of foreign wines and 
sugars into any of the American colonies (1793). 
If bounties were given on the import of naval stores 
from the North American colonies, the timber trade was 
hampered (as was indeed that of Scotland also) by the 
rights of preemption of the Commissioners of the Navy, 
and also by the requirement of a license for cutting 
down white pine. To these causes of discontent were 
added the impressment laws, the enforcement of which 
during the war of 1744-8 was openly resisted. Sir Charles 
Knowles, the British naval commander, finding his sea- 
men desert while lying off the Massachusetts coast, sent 
his boats to Boston to impress men in their stead. The 
people seized on the officers of the fleet who were in the 
town, and detained them for three days. The House 
of Representatives had to mediate before they were re- 



6S The War of American Independenee. a.d. 

leased, and most if not all of the impressed men were 
dismissed. 

An ugly temper was rising on both sides. There was 
a disposition in England to look upon the colonists as 

headstrong and rebellious — as a transatlantic 
plaints be- Jeshurun, that had waxed fat under the pro- 
mcTther'^ tection of the mother country, and kicked now 
country and at its protector. The colonists complained that 

the mother country crippled their trade, taxed 
them against their will, sought to thrust on them the worst 
features of its legislation. Every complaint seemed only to 
irritate English statesmen the more. One grievance on 
their part against the colonists was that the colonial 
Houses of Assembly claimed by their votes of supply to 
make the representatives of the crown their dependents; 
another, that the customs establishment in America was, 
owing to smuggling and sinecures, only a burden on the 
British customs. Smuggling in particular was so extensively 
practised that not one-tenth of the 1,500,000 lbs. of tea 
consumed annually in the colonies was estimated to come 
from England, whence alone it could be legally supplied. 
The remedy devised was to levy a revenue from the 
colonies, and to charge upon it a civil list for the salaries 

of the governors and other officers of the 

The attempt . , , . i • n i i ■■ i 

to'raise a crowu, mcludmg the judges, who were to hold 
the^coiordes^ office hcuceforth at its pleasure, and for the 
George maintenance, after the first year, of twenty 

regiments. Strange to say, the statesman who 
eventually took upon himself to attempt the administra- 
tion of such a remedy, George Grenville, was one who 
* doubted the propriety of taxing colonies without allowing 
them representatives ; ' but he also held that ' colonies are 
only settlements made in distant parts of the world for the 
improvement of trade,' and that 'they would be intolerable 
except on the conditions contained in the Act of Navi- 



1763-4- Causes of Discontent. 69 

gation.' In other words, he was incapable of knowing a 
nation when he saw one, so long as it was an offshoot from 
another ; he could not admit that slips and cuttings would 
ever grow into trees. 

The act of 1733 by which a customs duty was laid 
on certain foreign imports into the American colonies 
had been continued from time to time. In r^^^ ^^j^^^j , 
1763, on the ground that it was 'just and ne- Revenue 
cessary ' that a revenue should be raised in his 
Majesty's dominions in America, * for defraying the ex- 
penses of defending, protecting, and securing the same,' a 
new act was passed which, whilst reducing some of the 
existing duties, levied new ones on a number of other 
articles, including wines, besides enacting many harassing 
regulations. The navigation laws were at the same time 
more strictly enforced. 

The colonists protested, but submitted. What they 
claimed as yet was only representation in the British 
parhament. James Otis of Boston, who had Protests of 
been advocate-general for the crown, in a otls^^SanuTi 
pamphlet entitled ' The Rights of the British Adams. 
Colonies Asserted and Proved' (1764), wrote : 'When the 
parliament shall think fit to allow the colonists a repre- 
sentation in the House of Commons, the equity of taxing 
the colonies will be as clear as their power is at present 
of doing it without.' With Otis, Samuel Adams was the 
most prominent of the protesting colonists. ' We claim 
British rights,' he said at a Boston town meeting, ' not by 
charter only, for what is that but a parchment .? but we 
claim them because we were born with them.' 

The dislike to the new customs duties was, however, 
far enhanced by the announcement already made (March 
1764) by Grenville as Chancellor of the Ex- The Stamp 
chequer, of his intention to apply the stamp ^^'^' ^765- 
duties to America. This intention was carried into effect 



70 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

by the famous American Stamp Act in the following year 
(5 Geo. III., c. 12), in spite of petitions from the Assem- 
blies of six colonies, and the representations of their 
agents, conspicuous amongst whom was Franklin, agent 
for Pennsylvania. It was signed by commission on be- 
half of the king — then suffering from a malady which is 
supposed to have been in fact the first visitation of his 
subsequent insanity — March 22, 1765. It contained sixty- 
two sections, and imposed fifty-four separate duties, 
ranging from a halfpenny per copy on every pamphlet or 
paper not exceeding half a sheet, to 10/. on the admission 
to practice of any ^ counsellor, solicitor, attorney, advo- 
cate, or proctor.' 

The measure was received in America with very 
various feelings. Franklin thought that ' the sun of liberty. 
Patrick ^^^^ ^^^'^ Oi\s declared it to be the duty of all 

Henry's ' humbly and silently to acquiesce in all the 
decisions of the supreme legislature.' Younger 
men were less desponding and less submissive. In the 
Virginian House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry, its youngest 
member, carried five resolutions asserting the rights of 
the colonies, and denying the authority of the British 
parhament to tax them. A passage in his speech has 
often been quoted as an instance of rhetorical adroitness. 
* Caesar,' he exclaimed, ' had his Brutus ; Charles I. had 
his Cromwell ; and George III.' . . . — ' Treason, treason ! ' 
was the cry that rose from all sides — 'and George III. 
may profit by their example,' was Henry's deft conclusion. 
Resolutions similar to those of the Virginian house were 
passed in New York, Massachusetts, and other colonies. 

The Massachusetts Assembly convoked a Congress at 
New York for the month of October, November i being the 
date on which the Stamp Act was to come into force. 
The proposal hung fire for awhile, till, in July, South 
Carolina accepted the invitation of Massachusetts, and 



1765. Struggle before the War {lyG^-y^). 71 

other legislatures gradually did the same. Meanwhile 
agitation spread amongst the people. At ^ 
Boston, in August, Lord Bute, the English convened: 
minister, and Oliver, the Boston stamp-master, Boston and 
were hung in effigy, left hanging all day, taken ^^^^whcre. 
down at night, and carried on biers, in a great torchlight 
procession through the streets, to the cry of ' Liberty, 
Property, and No Stamps.' The stamp office, then being 
built, was levelled and set fire to, and the windows of 
Oliver's house broken, after which the figures were burnt 
amid the cheers of a vast multitude. Notwithstanding 
Oliver's public announcement that he would resign, riots 
broke out a few days later, in which the house of Governor 
Hutchinson was sacked ; the rioters when arrested were 
rescued, and remained unpunished. The stamp-masters 
of New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, voluntarily 
resigned their offices ; those of Maryland, Pennsylvania, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut were forced to do so. The 
last, a man named Ingersoll, being threatened with death 
by some 500 mounted farmers and freeholders, each 
armed with a white club, kept them at bay for three hours, 
but at last gave in, as it was ' not worth dying for.' As 
he rode back into Hartford on his white horse, with the 
crowd after him, he said that he now understood the 
meaning of ' Death on a pale horse, and hell following 
him.' 

There was more in all this than mere rioting. Already 
it had been written in a Boston paper that ' North Ameri- 
can liberty was dead, but she had left one son, indepen- 
Independence, the hope of all when he should dence 
come of age.' 'Join or die' was the motto of spcTkeifof: 
a new paper published at New York. And co^^Iss'^ 
on October 7, the Congress met at New and its pro- 
York, twenty-eight delegates strong, represent- 
ing nine colonies — Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 



72 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, and South Carolina. They drew up a petition 
to the king, and a memorial to parliament in which — 
chiefly through the vehement opposition of Gadsden, a 
South Carolina delegate — all arguments drawn from royal 
charters were discarded. The idea of colonial repre- 
sentation in the British parliament was disclaimed as im- 
practicable, and whilst ' all due subordination to the par- 
liament of Great Britain ' was acknowledged, its right to 
tax the colonies was denied. Six colonies, by their dele- 
gates, signed the papers, and became, to use their expres- 
sion, ' a bundle of sticks which could neither be bent nor 
broken' (Oct. 25). 

On October 31 Governor Colden and all the royal 
governors took the oath to carry the Stamp Act into 
The Stamp effect. On November i there was not a stamp- 
Act cannot master in the colonies, nor a stamp to be seen. 

be earned ' ^ 

into effect. The day was signalised in several towns by 
processions carrying the Stamp Act to be burned or 
buried, or again by the funeral of a coffin bearing the 
name of Liberty, which after being lowered into the grave 
was raised again with the inscription '■ Liberty Revived.' 
Handbills posted at the street corners in Boston warned 
those who should distribute or use stamped sheets to look 
to themselves. Oliver was compelled to carry out his 
promised resignation under a tree, now known as Liberty 
Tree, and to take an oath before a justice of the peace 
never to take measures to enforce the Stamp Act in 
America (Dec. 17). Open rioting was confined, however, 
to New York. For a time (except in Rhode Island) the 
courts were closed, lest for want of stamps the proceed- 
ings should be illegal, and ships feared to go to sea 
without stamped papers ; but after awhile all went on as 
usual. 

There had been a change of ministry in England be- 



1766-7. Struggle before the War (1763-75). 73 

tween the passing of the Stamp Act and the date appointed 
for carr}'ing it into execution. The Rocking- 
ham Cabinet was far weaker than its prede- ingham 
cessor, but better disposed towards America. pftt'rdVices 
During the recess (January 1766) Pitt's advice that America 
was asked by the Cabinet as to the measures 
to be taken with regard to America. He gave it from 
his seat in parhament, which he had not for a long time 
attended. *He could not be silent/ he said, ' on a question 
that might mortally wound the freedom of three millions 
of virtuous and brave subjects beyond the Atlantic Ocean. 
The Americans were the sons, not the bastards of Eng- 
land. They were entitled to the common right of repre- 
sentation, and could not be bound to pay taxes without 
their consent.' Later on in the debate, in reply to Gren- 
ville, who had charged the seditious spirit of the colonies 
to the factions in the House, Pitt uttered his famous words, 
soon echoed from shore to shore of the Atlantic : ' The 
gentleman tells us America is obstinate ; America is 
almost in open rebellion ; I rejoice that America has re- 
sisted.^ Yet even he, whilst recommending the absolute 
repeal of the Stamp Act, added : ' At the same time, let 
the sovereign authority of this country over the colonies 
be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised, and be 
made to extend to every point of legislation, that we may 
bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise 
every power whatsoever, except that of taking their money 
out of their pockets without their consent.' 

His advice was followed on both points. 

A' year after it was passed, the Stamp Act was re- 
pealed, on the ground that its continuance ^j^^ stamp 
* would be attended with many inconveniences, Act re- 

1 . , , - . f. pealed, 1766; 

and might be productive of consequences the Deciara- 
greatly detrimental to the commercial interests '°''^ '^"" 
of these kingdoms.' (6 Geo. HI. c. ii.) But at the 



74 The War of A merican Independence, a. d. 

same time the Declaratory Act was passed ' for the better 
securing the dependency of his Majesty's dominions 
in America upon the crown and parhament of Great 
Britain.' This declared that the colonies and plantations 
in America ' have been, are, and of right ought to be, sub- 
ordinate unto and dependent upon the imperial crown 
and parliament of Great Britain ; ' and that the crown, 
with the advice and consent of parliament, ' had, hath, 
and of right ought to have, full power and authority to 
make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to 
bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the 
crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever; ' and again, 
that all ' resolutions, votes, orders, and proceedings ' in any 
of such colonies or plantations, whereby the power and 
authority of the parliament of Great Britain to make laws 
and statutes was denied or drawn into question, are ' utterly 
null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.' 

In the first instance the repeal only of the obnoxious 
Stamp Act was noticed by the colonists, the Declaratory 
Rejoicings in Act being Overlooked. The people gave them- 
the colonies, selves up to joy. Instead of the funereal tolling 
which used to greet the arrival of vessels carrying stamps, 
merry peals rang from church to church. The women, 
who had resolved not to wear any clothes of English 
stuff, bought new ones for the king's birthday (June 4), 
giving the old to the poor. Boston celebrated a special 
hoHday (May 19). 

This favourable temper was not suffered to last long. 
The British Government had not renounced its purpose 
P , of making revenue out of the colonies, nor had 

obnoxious the parliament disclaimed the right of taxation 
measures. ^^^ ^^ interference with their trade. An act of 
1766 forbad absolutely, under pain of forfeiture of both 
goods and vessel, the importation into Jamaica or Do- 
minica of the chief staples of the North American colonies. 



1766. Struggle before the ll'cr {lye^-ys)- 75 

If another act of the same session somcAvhat reduced 
certain import duties payable in those colonies, it was 
more than counterbalanced by an act of the following 
session, known as the Revenue Act, imposing duties on 
the import from Great Britain into any colony or planta- 
tion in America, of glass, tea, paper, and other articles, 
and directing the application of the duties 'for defraying 
the charges of the administration of justice, and the sup- 
port of the civil government.' 

But there was another source of dissatisfaction. The 
American colonies had hitherto, for the most part, de- 
fended themselves against aggression, and 
had often undertaken, of their own accord, ex- tering A^Jt. 
peditions against England's enemies. When o"the"New 
British troops had been sent over, quarters VorkAssem- 
had been found for them under provincial acts. ^' 
During the Seven Years War, Lord Loudoun, as com- 
mander-in-chief, had set the example of insisting on free 
quarters for his officers (1756). In 1765 the first ' Quar- 
tering Act' — afterwards continued yearly — was passed, 
requiring the colonies to provide the king's ' troops with 
certain stores, and with barracks. Massachusetts refused 
to supply stores in accordance with the requirements of 
the act ; New York did the same, passing an Act of 
Assembly of its own for similar purposes, but with incon- 
sistent provisions. In retaliation, the British Government 
now resorted to the severe measure of suspending the 
New York constitution ; an act being passed 'for restrain- 
ing and prohibiting the Governor, Council, and House of 
Representatives of the province of New York, until pro- 
vision shall have been made for furnishing his Majesty's 
troops with all the necessaries required by law, from 
passing or assenting to any Act of Assembly, vote, or 
resolution for any other purpose.' 

Strange to say, most of the above measures were 



^6 The Wm' of American Independence. a.d. 

passed under the administration of Pitt, now Earl of 
The Chat- Chatham, to whom several colonies had been 
ham Cabinet voting statues. At the express invitation of the 
^'' ' king (July 6, 1766), he had, although enfeebled 

by illness, become the head of a Cabinet containing several 
members favourable to America (Lord Shelburne in par- 
ticular), but bitterly opposed by the Rockingham Whigs*. 
Lord Chatham's infirmities so increased upon him that 
towards the end of 1766 he had to leave London for Bath, 
nevermore to appear as a minister in the House of Lords. 
The brilliant but reckless Charles Townshend, taking the 
lead in his absence, resolved to raise a revenue from 
America. Chatham in vain tried to get rid of Towns- 
hend, and instead of resigning, withdrew altogether 
from business, leaving the leadership to the Duke of 
Grafton (March 11, 1767). He was even led to de- 
clare that he would not retire from the ministry except 
by the king's command (June 1767). Virtually the Cabinet 
was henceforth the king himself, more especially when, 
after the sudden death of Charles Townshend (Sept. 
1767), his place was filled by the clear-sighted but weak- 
willed Lord North. Two months later, the Colonial depart- 
ment was taken from Lord Shelburne and given to Lord 
Hillsborough (December), w^ho soon manifested the pur- 
pose of coercing the colonies. At last Lord Shelburne was 
dismissed (Oct. 1768). This was too much for Chatham, 
who resigned, notwithstanding the solicitations of the king. 
The old discontents of course now broke out afresh in 
Renewed America. The right of parliament to legislate 
agitation in for the colonies had been denied for the first 
non-^mponl- time in the Massachusetts House of Assembly 
^i°n^a^gree- ^^^^ ^f 1 766). Choiseul, the French prime 
French in- minister, had already sent an agent to America 
tngues. — Colonel de Kalb, an Alsatian, who afterwards 

served in the war on the American side — and, through 



1767-8. Stmggle before the War {ij6'^-'j^). yj 

his minister in London, was paying court to Franklin. 
Before the time appointed (Nov. 20) for the collection of 
the new taxes, after a vain attempt to obtain an early 
convening of the Legislature, the inhabitants of Boston 
met (Oct. 28, 1767), and resolved to forego the importa- 
tion and use of many articles of British production 
and manufacture, appointing a committee to obtain 
signatures to an agreement for this purpose, and direct- 
ing their resolutions to be forwarded throughout the 
colonies. The Massachusetts House of Assembly (Jan. 
12, 1768) adopted a letter to be sent to their agent for 
communication to the British ministry, protesting, amongst 
other things, against all acts of the British parliament for 
taxing the colonies. A month later they sent a circular 
letter to all the colonies, requesting them to join in some 
suitable measure of redress. Petitions to the king, re- 
monstrances to the parliament, began to pour in. A sloop 
was discharged in Boston of a cargo of wines, whilst the 
tide-waiter on board was kept a prisoner in the cabin. 
The sloop was seized by the collector ; the collector's 
boat was dragged through the streets and burnt on the 
common (June 10). The captain was prosecuted, but no 
evidence was forthcoming, and his ship was restored to 
him. The Massachusetts Assembly, when requested by 
the governor, under the direction of the Secretary for the 
Colonies, to rescind the circular letter, refused to do so 
by 92 votes to 17. The Governor dissolved the Assembly. 
The merchants of Boston entered into an agreement 
against importation, and ' appointed an influential com- 
mittee, who took measures to induce or force all to 
come into the agreement.' Women — ^ daughters of 
Liberty' — gave up the use of tea. Choiseul was already 
thinking of offering a treaty of commerce to the Ameri- 
cans. Just at this time, moreover, the French population 
of Louisiana had risen upon the Spanish authorities, 



yS T/ie War of American Independence, a.d. 

and claimed to be either a French colony or a republic, 
a proceeding which was deemed by the French to be ' at 
least a good example for the English colonies.' The 
attempt was quelled in August of the following year, 
but it showed that there was revolution in the air of the 
American continent. 

Governor Bernard having refused to issue writs for a 
new Assembly, a convention was called in Boston, after a 
The Boston Precedent set in 1688. This convention, at- 
Convention. tended by delegates from nearly every settle- 
ment in the colony, refused to break up at the bidding of 
the governor, and the members conducted their proceed- 
ings so adroitly that Attorney-General de Grey, when 
consulted as to whether they had been guilty of treason, 
declared that he doubted whether they had been guilty of 
an overt act, though he was sure they had come ' within 
a hair's breadth of it.' 

Meanwhile the news had come that a standing army 
was to be kept in the colonies. On September 28, just 
Troops sent after the Convention broke up, seven vessels of 
nks r Hills. "^^^ arrived in Boston from Halifax, with seven 
boi"o"sh's , hundred men on board, and drew up in line, 

and North's , , . , , ' ^ , . 

policy ; broadside to the town, the gunners standmg to 

Washington ^^^^'^ S^^^^ with lighted matches. They landed 
(1768-9). on October 11, but quarters were refused, and 

it was with the greatest difficulty that any could be found. 
More troops followed; by the end of the year there were 
four thousand regulars in Boston. To the westward, on 
the other hand, many posts were abandoned. It was the 
policy of Lord Hillsborough to ^extend an unbroken 
line of Indian frontier from Georgia to Canada.' Lord 
North in parliament declared that he would never think 
of repealing the Revenue Act until he saw America 
prostrate at his feet. The Assembly met in 1769; but 
finding itself surrounded by soldiers, refused to do 



1709-70. Stniggle before tJie War {iy6^-y$). 79 

business. The feelings which had by this time been 
aroused in the breasts of men by no means of impulsive 
temperament, may be judged of by a letter of Washington 
to George Mason, dated April 5, 1769. 'At a time when 
our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with 
nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom,' he 
wrote, it was clearly his opinion ' that no man should 
scruple or hesitate a moment to use arms in defence of so 
valuable a blessing,' although only as ' the last resource.' 
Yet for years after, as will be seen, he deprecated the idea 
of American independence. 

Nor did New England stand alone. Virginia passed 
strong resolutions, which were followed by others in both 
Carolinas, Delaware, Maryland, New York. The ^ , ^ 

. 1 1 Spread of 

non-importation agreements spread everywhere non-importa- 
— Washington laid one before the Virginia As- menfs^''the 
sembly — and home manufactures sprang up. Boston 

/- -TT 1 ^ 11 -AT massacre. 

The graduates of Harvard College, m Massa- 
chusetts, stood up to take their degrees, clad in New Eng- 
land black cloth. The imports from England into all the 
colonies fell oft* to a serious extent. Bitter feelings grew 
up between soldiers and citizens. There was rioting at 
New York ; in the ' Boston massacre ' three citizens 
were killed, and several wounded (March 5, 1770). The 
victims had a public funeral, and the troops were sent to 
their barracks. 

Lord North, who had succeeded to the premiership, 
thought to appease the discontent of the colonists through 
a compromise, by which all the obnoxious Lord North 
duties were removed, except that on tea. attempts a 

. . compromise ; 

To this henceforth the non-importation agree- the Tea Act 
ments (which indeed had only been fully ^^'^'^°^- 
observed in New York) were confined, and for nearly 
two years there was a comparative lull in the storm. 
In violation of the Massachusetts charter, which reserved 



So TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

to the governor the command of its forts, Castle Wilham 
at Boston was surrendered by him to the royal com- 
mander-in-chief. The popular party in North Carolina, 
known as ' regulators,' were forcibly put down. Fugitives 
from among them, however, crossed the Alleghanies, de- 
scended into the valley of the Tennessee, and there by 
written agreement founded a small republic of their own 
(1772). The settlers of Illinois did not go quite so far, 
but refused to submit to the crown authorities, and 
claimed institutions like those of Connecticut. Virginia 
protested against the royal instructions which forbad the 
governor to assent to any law by which the importation 
of slaves should be in any respect prohibited or obstructed. 

The spark of a new conflict flew out from tiny Rhode 
Island, always keen for trade, whether legal or not. An 
The burning ^ct had just been passed which made it a 
°Gas^ ee ' Capital offcncc wilfully and maliciously to burn 
1772. or destroy any ship or vessel of war, or any 

military, naval, or victualling stores, and allowed trials 
for any such offence committed out of the realm to take 
place in any county within it. In the teeth of this act, at 
Providence, Rhode Island, a royal schooner, the ' Gaspee,' 
stationed on the coast to prevent smuggling, having been 
led on by a vessel which she was pursuing into shoal 
water, was boarded, seized, and burnt by night (June 9, 
1772), and a reward of 500/. failed to procure any evi- 
dence against the perpetrators of the outrage. 

Samuel Adams now propounded a plan, which he had 
rp, ^ been maturing for a whole year, for creating 
mittees Committees of correspondence, to be appointed 

spondelnce; by town meetings. Boston set the example, 
of fea'at'°" which was rapidly followed by the Massachu- 
Boston setts towns, then by Virginia, by South Caro- 

(I773-3)- Xxxia,^ and by all New England. Scarcely any 
tea was consumed but Dutch ; the Revenue Act proved a 



1772-4" Struggle before the War {^\'j6i-'j^). 8i 

dead failure. In vain, to encourage consumption, did 
parliament grant a drawback on the export of tea to the 
American colonies (as also to Ireland), first of three-fifths 
of the English export duties, then of the whole ; in vain 
were shiploads of tea consigned to the colonies, instead 
of waiting for the orders which did not come. The ' Sons 
of Liberty' organisations, which had now been in existence 
for some years, determined that it should not be landed, or 
if landed, not sold. At Philadelphia and New York the 
ships were sent back without breaking bulk; at Charleston 
the tea was landed, but left to rot in damp cellars. At 
Boston, where Governor Hutchinson's sons were the con- 
signees, the governor gave orders that the ships should not 
sail till the duties were paid. For weeks the people kept 
watch on the docks to prevent the landing of the tea. At a 
great meeting of 7,000 people (December 16, 1 773), to which 
men poured in from twenty miles round, fervid speeches 
were made by Samuel Adams, Josiah Ouincy, and others. 
Towards evening, at a war-whoop from the gallery, the 
meeting broke up, and some fifty sham Indians proceeded 
to the wharf where three tea-ships were moored, boarded 
them, and threw the contents of 342 chests of tea into the 
water ; the whole proceedings being carried on in perfect 
order, in the presence of a vast multitude. The Boston 
newspapers were pressing meanwhile for a Congress of 
American States to frame a Bill of Rights, or to form an 
American commonwealth. A month later (January 25, 
1774), a Scotch preventive officer was tarred and fea- 
thered, and paraded under the Boston gallows. 

The news of this proceeding was received with indig- 
nation by the English Parliament, and there indignatioa 
was a talk of arresting Franklin, now the agent of Pariia- 
of four colonies. A petition which he had pre- Boston Port 
sented from the Massachusetts House of As- ''^*^'' 
sembly to the Privy Council for the removal of the governor 
M. H. G 



82 The War of Aine7'ican Independence. a.d. 

was dismissed, as 'groundless, vexatious, and scandalous/ 
and he was himself deprived of his office of deputy post- 
master for the colonies. An act known as the Boston Port 
Act was passed, to forbid temporarily ' the landing and dis- 
charging, lading or shipping of goods, wares, and mer- 
chandise, at the town and within the harbour of Boston/ 
which were placed in a state of quasi-blockade. 

This act was but one of a group of five statutes of the 

sam.e session (14 George III.) directed against the colonies. 

which were now virtually in a state of rebellion. 

Other _, 1-1 . , . . - , 

repressive 1 he sccoud aimed at securing the impartial ad- 
measures. ministration of justice in the cases of persons 
questioned for any acts done by them in the execution 
of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in 
the province of Massachusetts Bay. It gave protection to 
magistrates and others against local process for acts done 
in the execution of their duty, allowing the taking of bail 
and the changing to any other colony, or to Great Britain, 
of the place of trial of magistrates, revenue officers, or 
soldiers indicted for capital offences in Massachusetts. 
A third act, 'for the better regulating the govern- 
ment of the province of Massachusetts Bay in New 
England/ revoked in part the Massachusetts charter. It 
transferred from the assembly to the governor the ap- 
pointment of his council ; vested in him the sole right of 
appointment and removal of sheriffs, and of all judges of 
the inferior courts, and other legal officers, as well as 
of the chief justice after the first vacancy ; vested in the 
sheriffs so appointed the right of returning the juries ; 
and forbade meetings without the governor's consent, 
except for the election of representatives and petty 
officers. A fourth legalised the quartering of troops in the 
North American colonies. The fifth, professing to make 
'more effectual provision for the government of the pro- 
vince of Quebec in North America/ extended the limits of 



1774- Struggle before the War {ij^l-']^). 83 

the province to the Ohio and the Mississippi, so as to 
include five of the present States of the Union : Ohio, 
Michigan, Indiana, Ilhnois, and Wisconsin. Although 
some of these bills were vigorously opposed in parlia- 
ment by Burke, Barre, and others, all were carried by large 
majorities. Yet the issue seemed to be clearly seen. 
In the debate on an address to the crown which had 
preceded the five measures, Wedderburn (afterwards 
Lord Loughborough) had declared the leading question 
to be ' the dependence or independence of America. 
Outside of parliament, two men of very different opinions 
were bold enough to advocate American independence : 
Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, a well-known free-trader, 
and John Cartwright, afterwards an equally well-known 
radical. But public opinion ran the other way, and as a 
concession to it, the reporting of debates in parliament was 
allowed for the first time. The singular fact, that England 
thus owes one of the greatest safeguards of her freedom 
to the attempt to coerce America, has often been noted. 

Lord North had declared that if his measures were 
firmly sustained, 'peace and quietude' would 'soon be 
restored.' The result was far otherwise. On 
the first news of the Boston Port Bill the Vir- Virginia and 
ginian House of Burgesses entered a protest ^etts^^a^"' 
against it on their journals, and set apart Congress 
June I as a day of fasting, 'to implore the 
divine interposition for averting the heavy calamity 
■which threatened destruction to their civil rights and the 
evils of civil war, and to give them one heart and one mind 
firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every 
injury to American rights.' The governor dissolved the 
House. The members met elsewhere, and resolved that 
an attack on one colony was an attack on all, and that it 
was expedient to call together a general Congress. Mas- 
sachusetts took a similar course, and it was decided that 



84 The War of A nierican Independence. 

a Congress should meet at Philadelphia, in September. In 
the interval county meetings were held — the most re- 
markable of which was that of Fairfax County, presided 
over by Washington. This assembly adopted twenty- 
four resolutions, which had been drawn up by George 
Mason, setting forth the points at issue between England 
and her colonies. 

The ' Continental Congress,' as it was termed, met 
accordingly at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia (Sept. 5, 
1 774), and it is somewhat remarkable that in the 
nentai Con- Quaker city it opened with the celebration of 
Fhfiadel- ^^ Church of England service. Fifty-three 
phia(Sept. delegates attended, Georgia alone not being 
^"^^^ ' represented. The vote was to be by colonies, 

whatever might be the number of delegates. 'AH 
America/ Patrick Henry declared, 'is thrown into one 

mass I am not a Virginian, but an American.' 

Among the delegates were, besides himself, Samuel 
Adams and George Washington. A declaration of the 
rights of America was drawn up. It claimed the power 
of legislation through provincial assemblies ; consent- 
ing indeed to the regulation of trade by act of parlia- 
ment, but denying the right of internal or external taxa- 
tion for raising a revenue in America. It claimed further 
the right of trial by jury on the spot, and of holding public 
meetings to consider grievances or petition the king. 
It declared the maintenance of a standing army in 
any colony in time of peace without the consent of 
the legislature, and the exercise of the legislative power 
by a nominated council, to be alike illegal ; and it 
cited as instances of the violation of colonial rights 
the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, 
the Tea Act, the Act for suspending the New York 
legislature, the Acts for trial in Great Britain of 
offences committed in America, the Boston Port Act, 



1774- Struggle before the War {ijGl-'j^). 85 

the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Quebec 
Act. Resokitions were adopted for a non-consump- 
tion and non-importation agreement, for an address 
to the people of Great Britain, a memorial to the in- 
habitants of America, and a loyal address to the king, 
besides one approving the resistance of Massachusetts 
to the acts of parliament, and declaring that if these 
were enforced, all America ought to support her. In 
addition to the above addresses, one was drawn up to 
the people of Canada, inviting them to join the colonial 
league. After sitting for fifty-one days, the Congress 
broke up, to meet again on May 10, 1775. 

It might have been thought that the calling together 
of a Congress to protest against and sanction resistance to 
the government of the mother country was Washington 
itself an act of independence. Although this still disclaims 

■,-, r t 1-1 • -r- the idea of 

was generally felt to be the case m Europe, colonial in- 
the Americans themselves did not yet under- dependence. 
stand what they were doing. While the Congress was 
sitting (Oct. 9, 1774) Washington wrote to an old 
comrade, who looked upon the proceedings of Massa- 
chusetts as aiming at independence : ' I think I can 
announce it as a fact that it is not the wish or interest 
of that government, or any other upon this continent, 
separately or collectively, to set up for independence. 
.... I am well satisfied,' he repeats, ' that no 
such thing is desired by any thinking man in all North 
America.' Yet at the same time he declared that none 
of the colonies would ' ever submit to the loss of those 
valuable rights and privileges which are essential to 
the happiness of every free state, and without which 
life, liberty, and property are rendered totally insecure,' 
and predicted that if the ministry were determined to push 
matters to extremity, ^more blood would be spilt than ever 
had been in the annals of North America.' 



86 The War of America?! Indepe?tdence. a.d. 

Massachusetts was indeed at this time taking a bold 

lead. The Assembly had been convoked to meet on 

October c;. Under the charter it should have 

The Massa- 

chusettspro- elected the council. Of the members of thelatter, 
vinciaicon- ^iq were henceforth to sit under writs from 

gress ; 

raising of the crown, a third refused their appointments, 
^'^ ^^' and the greater part of those who accepted 

them were forced by public indignation to resign, while 
the new judges appointed by the crown were not allowed 
to sit. General Gage, the governor, now countermanded 
by proclamation the writs for the Assembly. The elections 
were held nevertheless, and the members met; but the 
governor not making his appearance to open the session, 
they resolved themselves into a provincial congress, to 
consider the affairs of the colony. Although General 
Gage, besides being governor of Massachusetts, was also 
commander-in-chief for all North America, with four regi- 
ments of regulars under his orders, measures were taken 
for organising a militia of t 2,000 men, one quarter of 
whom were to be enlisted as ' minute-men,' bound to 
assemble in arms at a minute's warning. General officers 
were named, large stores collected, and two committees 
appointed — one of safety, to determine when the services 
of the militia were required, to call them out, and direct 
the army; the other of supplies. Delegates were sent to 
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, request- 
ing aid to make up 20,000 men, and a correspondence 
was opened with Canada. Corps were accordingly formed 
in Virginia, Rhode Island, and Carolina. General Gage 
wrote to Lord Dartmouth (November 2) that the ^edicts 
of the provincial congress' were 'implicitly obeyed,' that 
Massachusetts was * without courts of justice or legisla- 
ture,' the whole country ' in a ferment, many parts of it 
actually in arms, and ready to unite.' No 'decency' was 
* observed in any place but New York,' which indeed had 



1774- Struggle before the IVar {lyd^-ys)- ^7 

alone disapproved of the resolutions of the Continental 
Congress. 

Parliament met on November 30. The king's speech 
complained bitterly of the spirit of resistance and disobe- 
dience to law in the American colonies, and L^^ge ma- 
announced his firm resolution to withstand any jorides in 

. . parliament 

attempt to weaken or impair the supreme au- against con- 
thority of the British legislature. The House Chatham's 
of Lords declared its ' abhorrence and detesta- warnings. 
tion of the daring spirit of resistance and disobedience to 
the law' which so strongly prevailed in Massachusetts, 
and humbly thanked the king for taking measures to 
enforce the laws. The House of Commons followed suit. 
In vain did Chatham, coming forward after a long retire- 
ment, urge conciliation, and the withdrawal of the troops 
from Boston. ' I contend,' said ' the old man eloquent,' 
*not for indulgence, but justice to America. . . .Resist- 
ance to your acts was as necessary as just ; and your vain 
declaration of the omnipotence of parliament, and your 
imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be 
found equally impotent to convince or to enslave your 
fellow subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether 
ambitioned by an individual part of the legislature, or by 
the bodies who compose it, is equally intolerable to all 
British subjects. . . . Woe be to him who sheds the first, 
the inexpiable drop of blood, in an impious war with a 
people contending in the great cause of public liberty ! . . . 
The Bostonians have been condemned unheard. The in- 
discriminating hand of vengeance has lumped together 
innocent and guilty ; with all the formahties of hostility 
has blocked up the town, and reduced to beggary and 
famine 30,000 inhabitants. ... I have read Thucydides, 
and have studied and admired the master-states of the 
world, and I must declare and avow that for solidity of 
reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion. 



88 The War of Ameidcan Independence, a.d. 

under such a complication of difficult circumstances, no 
nation or body of men can stand in preference to the 
general Congress at Philadelphia. All attempts to impose 
servitude upon such men — to establish despotism over a 
mighty continental nation — must be vain, must be futile. 
We shall be forced ultimately to retract; let us retract 
while we can, not when we must/ But he preached to 
deaf ears. His motion to address the king for a removal 
of the troops from Boston was negatived, as was also 
a conciliation bill which he brought forward. In the 
Commons, urgent petitions from the merchants of London 
and others for inquiry into the commercial policy pursued 
towards America were, notwithstanding Burke's efforts, 
shelved by reference to a committee. To Horace 
Walpole conduct such as that of the ministry seemed to 
be ' that of pert children ; we have thrown a pebble at a 
mastiff, and are surprised it was not frightened.' 

The policy of the ministry was indeed pitiful. Lord 
North, affecting conciliation, proposed and carried by 
a large majority, in spite of Barre and 
North'^ncw Burke, a resolution that parliament should 
^e^proWlji- foJ"bear to tax any colony that might of its 
tion of trade own accord provide for the expenses of its 

extended* 

defence and civil government, hoping, in fact, 
to divide the colonies, since ' if one consents, a link 
of the great chain is broken,' On the other hand, the 
attempt to quell Boston alone by crippling her trade 
having failed, the same system of quasi-blockade was 
extended first to New England generally, then to New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South 
Carolina, by a similar but somewhat less extensive Act. 
New York, Delaware, North Carolina, and Georgia, al- 
though as yet left out of the pale of the restrictions, re- 
mained so only for a few months longer. It is almost need- 
less to say that counter-proposals by Burke and Hartley 



1775- The Colonial Pozucrs in lyy^. 89 

allowing the colonies to tax themselves, or even for 
only suspending for three years the act for the better 
regulation of the government of Massachusetts Bay, were 
rejected. Of the reception of the restraint of trade bills in 
parliament, Burke wrote bitterly : — ' We talk of starving 
hundreds of thousands of people with far greater ease and 
mirth than the regulations of a turnpike.' 

In America events were rapidly ripening. Massachu- 
setts continued to lay in stores and prepare for war, pro- 
viding even linen rags for the wounded of the coming 
conflict, and issuing provincial bills of credit for 
50,000/. As early as February 27, 1775, the first blood 
might have been shed. There was a depot of military 
stores at Salem. General Gage sent Colonel iMassachu- 
Leslie with 140 men to take possession of ^^"^ p/^" 

^ ^ pares for 

them, but they had been removed before his war ; a 
arrival. Going then to the place to which they bardy " 
had been taken, he found a drawbridge which averted. 
he had to cross drawn up, and when he attempted to cross 
the river, his boats were split up by the axes of the 
peasantry who awaited him on the other side. By way of 
compromise he was at last allowed to cross, but left the 
stores uncaptured. 

In Virginia the convention met again (March 26, 1775). 
Patrick Henry introduced resolutions for putting the 
colony in a state of defence. A committee was named 
for the purpose, which included George Washington. 
A letter of his of the 25th of this month, ^. . . 

-' ' Virginia 

addressed to his brother, shows him to us prepares 
already in command of the Independent Com- Washington 
pany of Richmond, and ready to accept that vo^?hL°i?fe' 
of another, ' if occasion require it to be drawn to the 
out, as it is my full intention to devote my life 
and fortune in the cause we are engaged in, if needful' 



90 The War of American IndLpendeJice. a.d. 

The train was laid ; there needed but a spark to kindle 

it. Before, however, narrating the circumstances 

ready for which Constituted the actual outbreak of the 

the spark. ^^^^ ^^^ ^g ^^^^ ^ glancc at the state of the 

world in this fateful year 1775. 



. CHAPTER IV. 

1775- 

Since the Peace of Paris in 1763, which virtually 
blotted France out from the list of the greater colonial 
The colonial powcrs, these were reduced to four ; England, 
powers. Spain, Portugal, and Holland. England and 

Spain divided the North American continent between 
them — since the Indians and their chiefs were only recog- 
nised as creatures to be protected if friendly, and put out 
of the way or out of existence if troublesome. Spain and 
Portugal in like manner divided South America, with the 
exception of Dutch Guiana, comprising both English and 
Dutch Guiana of the present day, and French Guiana, 
then a mere foothold for France on the continent. The 
flags of several European nations floated on the West 
Indian islands, and in most cases from those where still 
they wave ; but that of France was far more prominent 
than it is now, and in particular she held the largest and 
richest part of St. Domingo, the second largest island of 
the whole group, whilst she retained as now an islet or two 
on the Newfoundland waters, and the right of fishing off 
one of its coasts. In Africa the preponderant colonial 
power was Portugal, whose dominion was still a reality on 
the eastern as well as on the western coast ; Spain also 
had several ports on the Barbary coast. Holland had the 
Cape of Good Hope, and the Guinea and Gold Coast 



1775- Europe in 1775. 9 1 

were studded with as many different flags as the West 
Indian islands themselves — slave-catching and slave- 
driving being then deemed to be the two most profitable 
businesses in the world. In the eastern hemisphere the 
only real colonial empire was that of Holland in the 
eastern islands ; and if she had not yet completed the 
subjugation of Java, she had on the other hand a flourish- 
ing colony in Ceylon, and various settlements on the 
mainland of India. Spain had then, as now, her Philip- 
pines ; Portugal had her Goa and her Macao, and was 
still rather more than a name in India ; the English East 
India Company was already at Bombay, at Madras, at 
Calcutta, had acquired rights of territorial sovereignty, 
had possessed itself of the viceroyalty of India's three 
richest provinces, Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and was 
virtually sovereign of them in the name of the Mogul 
emperor. France, lastly, though retaining some territory 
in India, was reduced to struggle rather for influence than 
for power, but through her possession of Bourbon and 
the Isle of France (now Mauritius) she still held a strong 
position as a naval power in the East. Hence, though 
she could no longer be said to have a colonial empire, 
she could still, through her navy and her yet numerous 
possessions abroad, hold her own with the great colonial 
powers themselves. 

Let us now give a glance at Europe. Great Britain 
and Ireland were still two kingdoms under one king, who 
was also king of Hanover. France, within limits 
not much differing from her present ones 
(except that Savoy and Nice had not been annexed, nor 
Alsace and Lorraine torn away) was still a congeries of 
provinces, and had recently (1768) acquired Corsica. 
Germany retained her clumsy federal empire of the 
middle ages, but in her midst Prussia had sprung from 
an electorate of Brandenburg into a kingdom, and under 



92 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

Frederick the Great had defied at once the two greatest 
Continental powers, Austria and France, riveted on her- 
self the attention of Europe, and given a foretaste of that 
energy which in our own days has placed her at the head 
of a new German empire. Poland had still the name of a 
kingdom, but the first partition of her territory between 
Russia, Prussia, and Austria had taken place, and 3,925 
square miles of country had been stripped from her 
by these kind neighbours (1772). Unable to bear their 
country's degradation, many Poles were emigrating, and 
the names of more than one will appear in the history of 
the war of American independence. Russia, which had 
for the first time entered into the sphere of western 
politics during the Seven Years War, was making herself 
felt as a great power under Catherine II. Turkey had 
vainly endeavoured to support Poland ; but the Russians 
had invaded Moldavia, Wallachia, and the Crimea, had 
sent a fleet into the Mediterranean, roused the Morea 
into insurrection, and burnt the Turkish fleet in the Ar- 
chipelago. The Peace of Kainardgi, concluded through 
Austrian mediation (1774), had restored in great measure 
the status quo, except that Russia retained Azow and a 
few Black Sea ports, with the right of free navigation in 
Turkish waters. 

The territories of the three great states of Eastern 
Europe, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, had thus been 
greatly enlarged, whilst their fellowship in a common 
spoliation created amongst them a bond of union, which, 
though snapped asunder more than once, has always 
welded itself together again by a kind of magnetic force, 
and binds them to this day. In Austria, whose flag waved 
over the Spanish Netherlands, the clever Joseph had 
reigned since 1765, with his mother, Maria Theresa. 
Joseph was a philosopher-king like his fellow spoliators, 
Catherine II. and Frederick II. — but he could not be 



1767-1775- -Europe in 1775. 93 

brought to favour the revolted colonists, frankly averring, 
philosopher though he might be, that ' his trade was to 
be a king.' In Sweden, which had yet lost but a fragment 
of Finland, and retained a part of Pomerania, a half-mad 
despot, Gustavus III., imagined himself destined to renew 
the fame of a Gustavus Adolphus or a Charles XII., but 
w^as never to realise his dream. Denmark, with Norway 
united to her, under Christian VII. had scandalised the 
world by the imprisonment and divorce of a queen, herself 
an English princess, and the beheading of two noblemen 
accused of intriguing with her (1772), and had tied a knot 
which the sword alone has cut through in our days, in the 
arrangement for connecting Holstein and Sleswig with the 
Danish monarchy (1767). Italy, parcelled out into states 
of all sorts, two or three republics included, had not even 
the nominal unity of Germany, and was literally — though 
the insolent phrase had not yet been uttered — a mere ' geo- 
graphical expression ; ' but Sardinia, the Italian counter- 
part of Prussia, was already a kingdom ; and Bourbons 
reigned over the two Sicilies, as they did over France and 
Spain. Spain, under Charles III. (formerly Charles I. of 
Naples), generally followed the lead of France, for whom, 
thanks to her yet vast colonial empire and not inconsider- 
able fleet, she was by no means a despicable ally. She was 
at this moment engaged in an unprofitable war with the 
Barbaresque powers. England, besides Gibraltar, held 
Minorca, but Malta still belonged to its knights. Por- 
tugal, under Joseph I., was what it is. The Swiss con- 
federacy and Geneva were separate republics. The 
Netherlands were also a clumsy republican confederation 
under a stadtholder. 

Clearly, in any struggle which might break out be- 
tween England and her American colonies, the powers 
most directly interested would be France and Spain, the 
only near neighbours to those colonies ; and more re- 



94 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

motely, Holland, through her extensive trade. No other 
France and power would be likely to take more than an 
Spain the indirect interest in the contest, or indeed, with 
directly in- the exception of Russia, Sweden, Denmark, 
the Amerkan ^^*^ Portugal, could, through the possession of 
struggle. a navy, take any part in it ; and since France 
dragged Spain in her wake, the disputants could practi- 
cally look to the former alone as a valuable friend or foe 
in the struggle. 

In France a young king of spotless character, Louis 
XVI., had lately succeeded his grandfather, the heartless 
debauchee, Louis XV. Though humbled in the 
intellectual coursc of the Sevcn Years War in Europe by 
Europe"^ Prussia, and by England beyond seas ; stripped 
Voltaire, of her colonics, her finances in hopeless con- 
fusion, her people steeped in misery to the 
neck; France was yet the intellectual centre of Europe. 
French was not only the universal language of diplomacy, 
but that of nearly every court in Europe. Frederick the 
Great wrote in it, and on the eve of one of his great battles 
had composed an epistle in French verse to Voltaire. 
French had been the habitual language of our own 
George 11. George III. was the first of our Hanoverian 
kings to whom English was a native tongue. Gibbon 
had begun by writing in French. Voltaire corresponded 
in French with almost every sovereign in Europe, and 
with nearly the whole world besides. The best Italian 
comic dramatist of the age, Goldoni, had resided in 
Paris since 1761, and written in French all his later 
comedies. Although the golden age of German literature 
had begun, it was scarcely known as yet outside of Ger- 
many. France, on the other hand, was a literary world 
in herself, and the two greatest names in the literature 
of the -century were beyond all question those of Vol- 
taire and Rousseau, the latter indeed not French but 



1760-1775- Eiu'ope in ijj^. 95 

French-Swiss. If there was a recognised pope at Rome, 
there was an unrecognised one at Ferney, near Geneva, 
whose edicts were in fact far more authoritative with the 
world at large. Yet the ' patriarch of Ferney,' as Voltaire 
was often termed in the language of the day, now eighty- 
one years of age, was near the end of his reign. The in- 
fluence of Rousseau went far deeper than his. The one 
might rule in princely style over two leagues of terri- 
tory, enriched not only by the sale of his works, but by 
speculations of all sorts : the other, a prey to morbid and 
misanthropic delusions, might be eking out a pension 
of 58/. a year by copying music. But the one addressed 
himself solely to the intellects of men, the other to their 
feelings. The one supplied the age with denials, the 
other with new beliefs. Voltaire's writings might inspire 
a passionate hatred towards what existed ; those of 
Rousseau excited a passionate desire for a better future, 
and a belief that it could be realised. 

One noteworthy feature of the age in France for many 
years now had been the sense of a coming revolution. 
' After us the end of the world ; after us the de- 
luge,' Louis XV. used to say. ' We are approach- coming re- 
ing the age of revolution,' wrote Rousseau "^°^"'^'°"' 
in 1760; 'I hold it impossible that the great monarchies 
of Europe can have long to last.' * All that I see,' wrote 
Voltaire in 1762, 'is casting the seeds of a revolution 
which must come without fail.' M. de Tocqueville, in 
his admirable work, ' L'Ancien Regime et la Revolution,' 
has convincingly shown that this revolution was actually 
proceeding long before it was recognised as existing; that 
France had been already revolutionised in her adminis- 
tration before she was so politically. But in the political 
sphere blov/s had been already struck in 1775, though as 
yet from afar, which served to familiarise the public mind 
with the idea of change, and Malesherbes had gone so 



g6 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

far as to propose to Louis XVI. the calling together of the 
' Etats-Generaux,' national assemblies which had been 
disused since 1614. 

For the moment indeed all was hope. The court was 
purged from its scandals. Among the ministers whom 
The new the young king had called to his counsels were 
reign in ^-^q of the purest characters of France, Turgot 

France a / <-> 

hopeful one; and Malesherbes. Of the former it has been 
Aiaies-^" said that he proposed all the improvements 
herbes. The ^hich the Revolution effected. But when evil 

corn riots oi . ... 

1775. is long-rooted, the very uprootmg of it may 

create convulsions. The corn trade in France was 
clogged with all manner of restrictions. There had been 
under Louis XV. a hideous secret society, in which the 
king was chief shareholder, for keeping up the price of 
corn and speculating upon the hunger of the people. It 
seems to have lasted till 1774. Turgot, in the latter end 
of that year (September 13, 1774) declared the trade in 
corn and flour absolutely free in the interior. Grain riots", 
excited, there can be little doubt, by the corn monopolists 
themselves, ensued. The hungry people surged up to 
Paris, to Versailles, to petition the king for cheap bread. 
Some of the petitioners were arrested, and two of them 
hanged on a new gallows forty feet high. As they 
climbed to the scaffold, they called out to the people 
that they were dying for the people's cause (May 18, 
1775), — an ill omen, surely, for the reign of a well- 
meaning king and the rule of a benevolent minister. 
In another year Turgot will lose office. The old par- 
liaments meanwhile have been restored, to be finally 
swept away before fifteen years have passed by. 

The instinctive perception of an approaching over- 
throw of existing institutions goes far to explain the interest 
excited on the Continent by the American Revolution ; 
while the desire of that overthrow called forth the sym- 



I750-75- 



Fra?icc in 1775. 97 



pathy or enthusiasm with which it was greeted by many. 
But it would be a mistake to think that that 
interest and sympathy dated only from the pathy with 
Revolution itself. Turgot, in an oration de- ^ded th^'^^' 
livered before the French clergy twenty-five American 
years before it broke out (1750), had used the 
following words : ' Vast regions of America ! Equality 
keeps them from both luxury and want, and preserves to 
them purity and simplicity with freedom. Europe herself 
will find there the perfection of her pohtical societies, and 
the surest support of her well-being.' 

There were moreover reasons why that sympathy 
should take a specially passionate form in France. Eng- 
land was not only the triumphant political rival . 
of France ; she was the envy of her philoso- grounds for 
phers and her patriots. Montesquieu had pathy^ ad- 
pointed to the British constitution as substan- miration for 
tially the most perfect embodiment of political 
wisdom. His assertion that it was depictured already in 
the pages of the 'Germania' of Tacitus, that it had been 
* found in the woods' (a hyperbole whereat Voltaire has 
not unnaturally his laugh), just fell in with Rousseau's 
declamations about the need of a return to nature and 
the primitive goodness of man. But Voltaire himself had 
as it were discovered England for France, had proclaimed 
the barbarian genius of Shakespeare, the greatness and 
bad taste of Milton, had patted Tillotson on the back, and 
exalted Locke and Newton to the skies. Anglomania 
had become the fashion of the day. But by a just'retri- 
bution for the extermination of all free faith in France 
under Louis XIV. and Louis XV., it was only the nega- 
tive side of the English mind that could influence the 
French. England being Protestant, whatever of faith 
might come from her was contraband; only her infidelity 

M. II. H 



98 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

passed through the custom-house. Hence, not only the 
wonderful rise of Methodism, but all that rich under- 
growth of genuine Christianity, springing up in the most 
diverse forms beneath a crust of formalism and scepticism, 
which is so marked and peculiar a feature of the eighteenth 
century in England, never touched contemporary France. 

This then was the temper by which France was 
animated. Overshadowed nationally by England, France 
America for "^^^^ Compelled to look up with longing to her 
France an political liberty, her untrammelled science, her 
land. freedom of speech and thought. What if to 

such a France there should come to be revealed another 
England, still freer than the one already known in her 
political institutions, still bolder in speech, witli men of 
science of her own, and withal belonging to a new world, 
living as it seemed to Europe on the very fringe of the 
wilderness, and nearer to that nature which Rousseau cried 
up, and, to crown all, breaking out into a life-and-death 
conflict with the England of the old world ? Is it not clear 
that when such a country was engaged in such a struggle, 
France would give full play to all the contrary feelings 
which England roused in her, and that all her resentment 
and hatred would go towards the older England, all her 
admiration and love towards the new ? Here then is the 
true secret of the passionate enthusiasm which the war 
of American independence raised up in France, and 
which afterwards influenced so greatly her own Revo- 
lution, No mere political jealousy of England could 
have given birth to it ; it was on the contrary the 
setting free of feelings and aspirations which political 
jealousy kept under check. But political jealousy co- 
operated with these more generous feelings, by blinding 
the eyes of French ministers to the dangers involved to 
the monarchy in such feelings themselves. 

Recent events in Eastern Europe, finally, tended to 



1746-75- England in I'j J '^. 99 

make France restless. I have already indicated the direct 
<:onnexion of the fate of Poland, through the 

r r 1 -11 r Influence of 

emigration or some 01 her sons, with the war of the partition 
independence in America. Its indirect in- ofr-oiand. 
fluence through France was far greater still. There was 
a traditional friendship between France and Poland. 
Choiseul, till 1771 the French Minister of Foreign Affairs 
(whose desire to interfere in favour of the American 
colonies has already been mentioned), had been ready to go 
to war for the sake of Poland, and had indeed sent thither 
1,500 men under a commander whose name will figure 
both for honour and disgrace in the still distant revolu- 
tionary wars of his country, Dumouriez. But Louis XV. had 
steadily opposed war, and the partition of Poland, though 
applauded by some of the philosophers, had been felt as a 
disgrace to France by all the more generous-minded of 
the young nobility. There was an uncomfortable feeling 
that France was playing an inferior part in European 
policy, and therefore also an impatience for some daring 
effort to restore her tarnished honour, which in a cause 
capable of enlisting largely the public sympathy might ere 
long prove irresistible. 

Let us now consider England herself. England. 

Culloden (1746) had blown to the winds all reasonable 
hopes of the Jacobite party. The ^ Old Pretender ' was 
dead (1776.) The ' Young Pretender,' the once The Jacobite 
brilliant Charles Edward, now a drunken party extinct, 
debauchee, had been long since expelled from France. 
His younger brother (Cardinal York) was a Romish 
priest, and could beget no more claimants to the 
English throne. Since 1767 the English Roman Catho- 
lics had begun to pray for the Hanoverian royal family. 
The purchase of the Isle of Man from the Duke of 
Athol had brought the last outlying portion of the 



100 TJie War of American Independence, a.Dw 

British Isles under the sovereignty of the crown. The 
King of England was no longer a German prince. He 
had proclaimed in his first speech to parliament 
Tcorge . ^|^^|.^ born and educated in the country, he 
gloried in the name of Briton. But although upright, pains- 
taking, and methodical, he was ill-educated, prejudiced, 
and violently self-willed. Perhaps the most noteworthy 
element in the politics of the country was the development 
of his influence. From a young man of twenty-five, ruled 
by Lord Bute, George III. has grown into a man of thirty- 
seven, with high ideas of his own prerogative, checked only 
by his hatred of the Whig aristocracy. Minutely acquainted 
both with the details of administration and the springs of 
party organisation, he combines with his stubbornness a 
cunning probably nearly akin to that madness which 
eventually obscured his reasoning powers. In a few 
years he will be seen chaining Lord North to office like a 
prisoner. 

The long struggle of the crown and parliament against 
John Wilkes had established the illegality of general war- 
Wilkes rants, and after three expulsions had left the 

Junius, famous demagogue still member for Middlesex 

BuJke^""' and Lord Mayor of London (i774)- 'Junius' 
^ °-'''- had run his meteor-like course, declaiming with 

virulent rhetoric against the king and every one of his 
ministers by turns, except Grenville, for whom no terms 
of eulogy seemed too warm beneath his pen. The sun of 
Lord Chatham's genius was setting ; that of Burke on the 
other hand was in its meridian splendour, and he was now 
the most prominent member of the Opposition, whilst the 
star of Charles James Fox was rising into view. 

In the literary world a kind of primacy answering 
somewhat to that of Voltaire on the Continent had fallen 
to a very different man, the Tory, Johnson. Hume, after 
filling for two years the office of Under Secretary of State 



1766-75. England in I'j']'^. lOI 

(1766-8), had withdrawn from public hfe, and was this 
year attacked by the malady which the next would carry 
him off. A far greater historian, Gibbon, had Literature 
entered parliament last year, and in another and art: 
year would bring out the first volume of his Hume, 
masterpiece, the ' Decline and Fall of the cowpev 
Roman Empire/ Adam Smith had published Macpherson, 
his 'Wealth of Nations' in 1766. Macpher- Sheridan; 
son's Ossianic fabrications or adaptations, so Cam"-^*^^' 
tasteless to the present age, were at the height borough. 
of their popularity. Cowper, with reason already im- 
paired, was taking part in the composition of the Olney 
Hymns, to be next year published. Boswell was taking 
note of Johnson's proceedings, as Horace Walpole of the 
proceedings of England's literary and courtly classes. 
Sheridan was achieving this year his first stage triumph 
in the ' Rivals.' In the world of art Sir Joshua Reynolds 
was supreme ; but a not unworthy rival in portraiture, and 
the first great chief among English landscape-painters, 
Gainsborough, had come up from Bath to London last 
year. The Royal Academy had been founded in 1768. 

In regions mostly beyond the ken alike of Johnson, 
the surly literary autocrat of Bolt Court, or Walpole, the 
aristocratic letter- writer of Strawberry Hill, those poets 
■of the labour-world, the inventors, whose genius was 
needed to enable their country to bear the burthen of 
a debt more than doubled by the last war, and 

1 • 1111111 • Industry : 

soon to be agam nearly doubled by the commg the inven- 
struggle, had already begun their wondrous Hrrgreaves' 
triumphs. Jedediah Strutt had improved the Arkwright, 
stocking-frame; Hargreaves' carding-engine Wedgwood, 
Jiad been followed by his spinning-jenny; the ^'^■'''"•'^"• 
first patent of Arkwright the barber for spinning by rollers 
had been taken out, and its validity established at law. 
The import of cotton, from 3,870,392 lbs. in 1764, had risen 



102 TJlc War of American Independence, a.d, 

to an average of 4,760,000 lbs. in 1771-5. Calico-printing 
had been introduced into Lancashire (1768), and the print- 
ing on stuffs wholly made of cotton had been allowed by 
an act of the previous year. Yet more, that mechanical 
agent had been mastered which alone would develope 
on their full scale the results of all previous inventions. 
Watt, who in 1763-4 was already examining and im- 
proving Newcomen's clumsy old steam-engine, had in 
1765 completed his own; and ten years later had prac- 
tically secured for himself by act of parliament ' the sole 
use and property of certain steam-engines, commonly 
called fire-engines,' for twenty-five years. He had be- 
come in the previous year a partner with Boulton, and 
the famous Soho Works, near Birmingham, were pro 
bably very nearly what they were when Bos well a year 
later saw there about 700 men at work, and noted down 
Boulton's characteristic words : ' I sell here, sir, what all 
the world desires to have, power.' Our pottery and 
porcelain manufactures were in their full splendour. 
Derby ware was dearer than silver. Wedgwood, with 
his works at Etruria and his warehouse in St. James's 
Square, was at the height of his renown, and was em- 
ploying, as a modeller, Flaxman, a rising young sculptor, 
destined ere long to be famous. 

What was really, under an old narhe, the new science 
of chemistry, would powerfully contribute to the develop- 
ment of all new industries, and Priestley, the 

Chemistry ^^ . . .. ,,. ,, [ ■, . 

and Priest- Unitarian minister, had just made (1774-5), his 
ISering— Capital discovciy of oxygen gas, though without 
P.rindiey, understanding what he had done. On the other 

Smeaton. , , . , ^ . . 

hand, improved means of communication were 
giving a new impetus to trade, and the race of our great 
engineers had been called into being. Under the muni- 
ficent patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater, Brindley 
had been able to construct and open the greater part of 



1759-75- First Period. 1 03 

the Bridgcwater Canal. Smeaton, whose Eddystone 
lighthouse has braved the winds and waves since 1759, was 
at the height of his reputation. Many of our great canals 
had been projected, several of them had been cut, and 
though the country was still infested by highwaymen, 
every session had its crop of road bills. 

The wonderful growth of population, between 1760 to 
1770, had given an impetus to agriculture to which the 
increasing number of Enclosure Acts in each ^ , ^ 

1 . 1 /> 1 Growth of 

session bears witness, and our first popular population; 
writer on agriculture, Arthur Young, had already agncuimre ■ 
published several of his works. Junius in 1768 Arthur 
had declared that England would be ' undone ' °""^' 
if the American colonies were suffered to open their trade 
to the world. Yet, by the various means above indicated, 
a silent revolution was going on, which would ere long 
expand English trade to dimensions never yet attained, 
and in no direction more remarkably than in that of Eng- 
land's emancipated colonies. 

Meanwhile, two boys of six years old were growing up 
to be, the one the conqueror and scourge of Two boys of 
Europe, the other the ultimate victor of that con- ^^^^ ^q^^. 
queror himself— Napoleon Bonaparte in Cor- parte and 
sica, Arthur Wesley (afterwards spelt Wei- Weiiesley. 
leslcy), in the north of Ireland. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE WAR : FIRST PERIOD ;' TILL THE FRENCH ALLIANCE 

(1775-8). 

The history of the war of American independence divides 
itself naturally into two periods. In the one (i775-8) the 
struggle is only between the mother country and her re- 
volted colonies, and hostiUties are confined to the continent 



104 The War of American Indepcndenee. a.d. 

of America, with some little fighting on the high seas. 
In the other (1778-83) France and Spain descend into the 

fray, Holland is dragged into it, allies are found 
divided into by France in the far East, and warfare extends 
iT^hr'^'^^ to all parts of the world. In the one period 
French the story is simple, interesting, and in many 

instances heroic ; in the latter it is complex to 
the last degree, and with a few brilliant exceptions, tamer 
ever as it goes on. 

General Gage was aware that a depot of arms and 
ammunition had been established at Concord, eighteen 
miles from Boston. To destroy it, as also to secure the 
persons of Hancock and Samuel Adams, whom he sup- 
posed to be in the neighbourhood, and the latter of 

whom he had vainly endeavoured to buy over, 
The first ]^g sent goo men under Lieut.-Colonel Smith, 

shot ; battle . ' 

of Lexington at clcvcn o'clock at night, April 18, 1775. 
■^11 ^ "^^' ^'^'^ tbe colonists were on the alert, and 
before long Colonel Smith heard the bells ring 
the alarm in advance of him, and sent back for reinforce- 
ments, throwing out also a detachment in advance. At 
Lexington, ten miles from Boston, the advanced guard 
thus thrown out met a body of ' minute-men,' who refused 
to disperse, and returned a few shots when fired upon. 
Concord was reached at 7 a.m., but only part of the arms 
and ammunition was found and destroyed, and a further' 
skirmish with minute-men took place. The object of the 
expedition being as far as possible attained, the troops 
now fell back, until they met, eleven miles from Boston, a 
reinforcement of 1,000 men. This long skirmish is what 
is called the battle of Lexington, or Concord, and is con- 
sidered to have been the beginning of the war. The re- 
sults of it were on the whole unfavourable to the British, 
whose sole exploits were the destruction of sixty barrels 
of powder and some balls, the spiking of three pieces of 



1775- 



First Panod. 105 



artillery, and the burning of a tree of liberty. They had 
65 killed, 180 wounded, and lost 28 men taken prisoners ; 
whilst on the ppposite side there were 59 killed, 39 
wounded, and 5 missing. Above all, the prestige of the 
British regulars was dispelled. Militiamen, mere armed 
peasants, had stood up to them, and in a manner pursued 
them. Franklin wrote to Burke from Philadelphia (May 
15), speaking of General Gage : ' His troops made a most 
vigorous retreat, twenty miles in three hours — scarce to 
be paralleled in history — and the feeble Americans, who 
pelted them all the way, could scarce keep up with them.' 
The whole country was now astir. The Provincial 
Congress of Massachusetts resolved that no obedience 
was in future due to General Gage, but that ^j^^, whole 
■'he ought to be considered and guarded country 

, , . c astir ; 

agamst as an unnatural and mveterate foe to Boston 
the country.' Before long 20,000 colonists sur- ^^^^^'^^d- 
rounded Boston, and threatened to starve out the British 
army. Far away in the south, on receiving, a month 
later, the news of the battle of Lexington, a North Caro- 
lina town judged the time come for independence, and 
declared itself freed from all allegiance to the king ; but 
this was going a little too fast for the people generally. 

The first blow on the offensive was struck by Con- 
necticut. There was a feud of some standing between 
New York and the settlers in the northern Surprise of 
part of her territory, inhabiting what is now the ro^a^Mav 
State of Vermont, in which one Ethan Allen 1°^ ' 
led the ' Green Mountain Boys ' (as the Vermonters 
are called). To Ethan Allen was now given the 
command of a force, 270 strong, which was to surprise 
the fort of Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain. There 
were not boats enough to carry them all over, but with 
his officers and eighty-three men Allen pushed on, sur- 
prised (May 10), the sleeping garrison, and claimed of the 



Io6 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

commandant his surrender ' in the name of the Great Je- 
hovah and the Continental Congress/ No resistance was 
possible, and vvithout the loss of a m^i the colonists 
obtained a fort, 122 cannon, several vessels, and a con- 
siderable quantity of stores and powder. Two days later 
another post. Crown Point, was taken without resistance. 

The Continental Congress met for its second sessioa 
at Philadelphia on the day (May 10), when Ethan Allen 
Second Con- "^^"^^ invoking its authority at Ticonderoga. 
tinentalCon- Bcsidcs Washington, Thomas Jefferson and 
Continental John Adams, two future presidents of the 
army voted. United States, were among the members. 
Urged by Massachusetts and other colonies, the Congress, 
prepared for war, voted 15,000 men as a Continental 
army (to include 13,000 men of the New England regi- 
ments encamped before Boston), and issued bills for 
2,000,000 dollars. 

Whilst they were deliberating, a fleet stood into Bos- 
ton (May 25), with 2,000 men on board, commanded by 
General Generals Hall, Clinton, and Burgoyne. Gene- 
Gage pro- j-^| Gage, on June 12, proclaimed martial law, 

claims mar- o ? j ? r •> 

tial law ; offering, howevcr, pardon to all who should 
commander- comc in, Samuel Adams and John Hancock- 
in-chief. (formerly president of the Massachusetts Pro- 
vincial Congress, and now of the Continental Congress) 
only excepted. The proclamation had little success, and 
was in effect answered by Congress, through the unani- 
mous vote, by which it appointed George Washington, 
of Virginia, commander-in-chief. 

Washington was now forty-three years old (bom 1732) 

6 ft. 3 in. in height, still fond of athletic sports and feats 

of agility, a passionate fox-hunter and duck- 

ab mg on. gj^^Qj-gj.^ pjjg handsomo and open good-natured 

countenance, if we may judge from his portrait taken three 

years before, had not yet been stiffened by the trials of 



1775- 



First Period. 107 



command mto the severity that marks his later busts or 
portraits, especially about the lines of the mouth. He 
was unquestionably the best known among colonial 
officers. After his services in Braddock's campaign he had 
been spoken of from the pulpit by an eminent preacher 
of the time, as ' that heroic youth. Colonel Washington, 
whom 1 cannot but hope Providence has hitherto pre- 
served in so signal a manner for some important service 
to his country/ He had served his apprenticeship of 
command during five years of warfare (1753-8) at the head 
of the Virginian troops. He had sat for fifteen years in 
the Virginia House of Burgesses (1759-1774), always 
returned by large majorities. Punctual in his attendance^ 
studying every question, he seldom spoke, but then he 
spoke clearly and firmly. Naturally quick-tempered, he had 
by the effort of a strong will schooled himself to a studious 
moderation both in language and conduct. Elected a 
delegate to the first Continental Congress, he so soon 
made his weight felt, that Patrick Henry, whilst naming- 
Rutledge of South Carolina as by far the greatest orator in 
Congress, declared that, ' if you speak of solid information 
and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestion- 
ably the greatest man on that floor.' Appointed comman- 
der-in-chief, he refused all pay for his services, only re- 
serving the right to claim reimbursement of his expenses. 
Before Washington could take up his command, a 
new blow had been struck in the contest. The celebrated 
though misnamed battle of Bunker's (now Battle of 
oftener called Bunker) Hill, had been fought Hiii'^nme 
(June 17). Bunker's or Bunker Hill is an 17, 1775- 
eminence no feet high, near the neck of the peninsula on 
which Charleston is situated, and which is divided from 
Boston by the Charles river. Learning that General 
Gage intended to occupy and fortify it. Colonel Prescott 
with 1. 000 men was sent at night from Cambridge, the 



io8 TJlc War of American Independence, a.d. 

head-quarters of the colonists, to anticipate the British. 
But they mistook, strange to say, for Bunker Hill another 
eminence called Breed's Hill, to the south of it, standing 
nearer to Charlestown and Boston, and intrenched them- 
selves there before the morning. The eminence com- 
manded the British camp, and, if armed with batteries, 
would have compelled the evacuation of Boston, When 
the intrenchments were discovered, 3,000 regulars were 
sent to attack them, under Generals Howe and Pigot. 
Instead of landing at the isthmus of Charleston so as 
to take the Americans in the rear, the troops, covered 
by the fire not only of the British batteries but of the 
fleet, marched straight up the hill. Two assaults on 
the intrenchments failed, but General Clinton having 
joined the assailants with 400 men, a third was made. 
The Americans had exhausted their ammunition, and 
Colonel Prescott ordered a retreat, which was effected in 
good order, and though only one piece of artillery out of 
six could be carried off, they encamped at Prospect Hill, 
a mile from the battle-ground. As was natural, the loss 
of the assailants was the greater — 226 killed and 828 
wounded and missing, as against 115 killed and 337 
wounded and prisoners on the American side. The 
battle had taken place in sight of Boston, whose roofs 
and steeples were crowded with spectators. These, 
besides the battle itself, had witnessed a sight which sank 
deep into the hearts of the American people, the burning 
of Charleston by the British soldiers, provoked, it is 
said, by their having been fired on from its houses. 

On the day of the battle the Congress elected four 
major-generals, and a few days later eight brigadiers. 
Washington Agcnts with presents were sent to the Indians 
hiJ'dSu?-^' ^^ obtain their neutrality. Washington (June 
ties. 21) set out to take up his command, meet- 

ing on the way an express who brought tidings of the 



1775- First Period. 1 09 

battle of Bunker's Hill. The day after reaching the army 
he issued a general order, reminding his forces that ' they 
are now the troops of the United Provinces of North 
America;' expressing the hope 'that all distinctions of 
colonies will be laid aside, so that one and the same 
spirit may animate the whole, and the only contest be, 
who shall render on this great and trying occasion the 
most essential service to the great and common cause in 
which we are all engaged.' His first task was to establish 
discipline. Although he found fewer men than he expected 
(16,000, of whom only 14,000 were fit for duty, instead of 
from 18,000 to 20,000), the forces under his command were 
far larger than those with which in after times he would 
have to keep British arm.ies in check. But his lines 
formed a semicircle of eight or nine miles, within which lay 
between 11,000 and 12,000 of the enemy, who commanded 
the water entirely. The officers were inefficient, the men 
insubordinate. The commander-in-chief showed himself 
strict even to severity. Frequent courts martial, and daily 
hard work upon fortifications, were the chief means by 
which he gradually welded into an army a crowd of men 
enlisted for short periods under different conditions, which 
as freeholders or freeholders' sons they claimed the right to 
construe for themselves. The lines were drawn so close 
round Boston that the British and American sentries could 
almost have spoken together. Frequent raids and skir- 
mishes gradually inured the provincials to war. Yet the 
situation was almost desperate. There was less than a ton 
of powder for the whole army, making about nine rounds 
per man, and Washington had to write to Rhode Island^ 
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, for every pound 
of powder and lead that could be spared. ' No quantity,' 
he declared, ^however small, is beneath notice.' By 
September the first troops enlisted by the authority of 
Congress, twelve companies of riflemen, had joined the 



no TJie War of American Independence. a.d. 

camp. The army seemed about to melt away. The term 
of service of the contingents of Connecticut, and of Rhode 
Island, would expire on December i, that of the Massa- 
chusetts men on the 31st. The paper of the Congress 
w^as being daily depreciated in value, and even of this de- 
preciated paper the paymaster had not a dollar in hand. 
The country was expecting to hear of the occupation of 
Boston, and it would have been m.adness to attack it. 
At length, on Washington's urgent representations of the 
seriousness of the crisis, a committee was appointed by 
Congress, with Franklin at their head, to confer with 
Washington and the New England colonies. A scheme 
was now devised for raising a new army of nearly 23,000 
men (Oct. 1775)- 

In the south the royal authority had been practically 
shaken off. The governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, 
having seized on the powder in Williamsburg 
in the south; magazine, was compelled to pay for it, and the 
Tiors^on^"^ amount paid was transmitted to Congress. 
board ship. Soon after he took refuge on board of a British 
vessel, to which he summoned the legislature ; they 
refused to come, called a convention, and formed a 
government. The governors of both the Carolinas fol- 
lowed a similar course, escaping on board ship. Thus, 
whilst the British navy commanded the sea and threat- 
ened the coast, the Revolution was triumphant on 
shore. Walpole, writing to his friend William Mason, a 
little before this time (Aug. 7), thus describes the situation 
with somewhat exaggerated satire : ' Mrs. Britannia orders 
lier senate to proclaim America a continent of cowards, 
and vote it should be starved unless it will drink tea with 
her. She sends her only army to be besieged in one of 
their towns, and half her fleet to besiege the terra firma ; 
but orders her army to do nothing, in hopes that the 
American senate at Philadelphia will be so frightened at 



«77S- 



First Period. 1 1 1 



the British army being besieged in Boston that it will sue 
for peace. At last she gives her army leave to sally out ; 
but being twice defeated she determines to carry on the 
war so vigorously till she has not a man left, that all Eng- 
land will be satisfied with the total loss of America.' 

Franklin on leaving England (April 1775), in paying 
a last visit to Burke, had warned him that sepa- ^ 

Last at- 

ration was inevitable. Burke, however, did tempts at 
not yet agree with him ; and there was indeed by"con-'^°" 
still room for concihation. Richard Penn, late gress ; 
governor of Pennsylvania, was in England as Penn and 
the bearer of what is known as the Second ^^.tl^'*-^^ 

crancn. 

Petition of Congress, or the ' Olive Branch,' 
adopted after Bunker's Hill (July 1775). In this document 
the colonists offered to submit to every enactment of par- 
liament up to 1763, including the Navigation Acts and the 
Acts for regulating trade, on condition of being freed from 
the new system of government. Vergennes, the French 
minister, deemed it impossible that such terms should be 
refused. The French ambassador, De Guines, persisted 
in thinking the contrary, and he was right. 

Penn could not obtain an audience. When he ap- 
plied for an answer to the petition, he was informed that 
*no answer could be given.' But an answer p,ociama- 
was given, and a bitter one, exactly ten days tio» against 

rebellion ; 

after Penn s arrival in England. A royal pro- application 
clamation was issued (August 23), for sup- pHncerfor 
pressing rebellion and sedition. Gage was foops. 
recalled, his command being divided between Sir Guy 
Carleton (afterwards Lord Dorchester), in the north, and 
Howe. A body of Hanoverians were enlisted. German 
princes were ready to sell their subjects. Applications 
were made to Holland and to Russia for the loan of troops, 
but were refused. 

The English people generally hardly understood the 



112 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

gravity of the crisis. There were those who, hke the 
The Enfflish I^^^e of Richmond, looked on America as lost 
people do already, but could comfort themselves with 

not appre- .... , , 

ciate the thmkmg ' that m our present state we are not 



crisis. 



fit to govern ourselves, and much less distant 
provinces ; and if ours emancipate, it will at least be some 
good to humanity that so many millions of brave men 
should be free and happy. (Duke of Richmond to Burke, 
June 1 6.) Merchants, sharing the same conviction that 
America was lost, were already looking to the Govern- 
ment for an indemnity. (Burke to Rockingham, Aug, 23.) 
Others at Bristol saw nothing in what was taking place 
but a third non-importation agreement. The two former 
ones, they said, ' had broken up, much to the advantage 
of the merchants, and particularly the second.' They had 
then had ' a demand with 20 per cent, advance on every- 
thing, which paid them amply for the delay.' They had 
' even sold at that advanced price goods of such a quality 
as at other times they could not sell at any price at all. 
(Burke to Rockingham, Sept. 14.) Why should they be 
alarmed ? The popular idol, Wilkes, was a friend to the 
American cause. But a great part of the nation was 
plunged in a ' shocking indifference and neutrality.' 
(Burke to Duke of Richmond, Sept. 26.) The king was 
full of confidence ; nothing could equal his * ease, compo- 
sure, and even gaiety.' (Burke to Rockingham, Aug. 4.) 
The proclamation had been hissed on the Stock Ex- 
change, but, to Lord North's surprise, loyal addresses 
began to come in from the country. 

Parliament met Oct 26. The king's speech was 

violent, charging the Americans with levying a 

pariiamen"; rebellious war for the purpose of establishing 

Lord George ^^ independent empire. The announcement 

Germain; ^ . _t 

the ministry of the employment of Hanoverians to gar- 
supported. ^.^^^ Gibraltar and Minorca afforded a strong 
ground of attack to the Opposition. Barrd, Charles Fox, 



1775- First Period. II3 

and General Conway, led the attack. Fox declared that 
neither Lord Chatham, the King of Prussia, nor Alexander 
the Great had gained so much in a campaign as had 
been lost by the ministers. In the Lords, Lord Shelburne 
strongly condemned the ministerial policy, and the Duke 
of Grafton, still Privy Seal, took the opportunity of an- 
nouncing his disapproval of it, which he soon followed up 
by resignation. The American department was trans- 
ferred to Lord George Germain, formerly known as Lord 
George Sackville, who, though he had distinguished 
himself at Dettingen and Fontenoy, had misconducted 
himself at Minden, and had been cashiered and struck off 
the list of the privy council. Loyal addresses poured in 
more and more. Everything seemed to encourage the 
king and his ministers in their present policy of what 
Lord Strafford would have called ' Thorough.' 

One of the earliest acts of the new session enabled the 
crown to call out and embody the militia, ' upon occasion 
of the present rebellion in America.' It was 
followed by the Prohibition of Trade Act, Prohibition 
termed by Burke, in his passionate language, Act^'^vcTtes 
the ' most wicked and sacrilegious of all mea- for German 
sures,' ' to prohibit all trade and intercourse 
with the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, 
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia;' i.e. with the whole of the thirteen colonies. 
When the bill was brought in (Nov. 10), Lord Mans- 
field spoke of it as ' passing the Rubicon,' but crudely 
justified the measure on the ground that ' if you do not 
kill them they will kill you.' The votes of the session 
included payments, not only for Hanoverian troops, but 
for '4,300 Brunswickers,' a 'regiment of foot of Hanau,' a 
* regiment of Waldeck,' the ' artillery of the Landgrave of 

M. H I 



114 T^^^ War of American Independence. a.d. 

Hesse-Cassel/ the ' artillery of Hanau.' On the other hand 
a step was taken in the direction of conciliation. In the 
Prohibition of Trade Act itself a provision was inserted 
authorising any persons named by the Crown, to grant 
pardons, or to declare any colony or province, county, 
port, district, or place, to be 'at the peace of his Majesty.' 
The intention of this provision, which was shortly after- 
wards carried out, was to appoint royal commissioners 
who should have power to put a stop to the war. 

In America the king's proclamation against rebellion 
was received (Nov. i) with divided feelings. In autho- 
rising New Hampshire and South Carolina to frame new 
America Constitutions, Congress virtually asserted inde- 
receiveswith pendence. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, 
feelings the instructed her delegates to dissent from and 
aea?n^rre-°'^ Utterly reject any propositions which might 
beiiion. cause or lead to a separation from the 

mother-country, or a change in the form of government. 
New Jersey followed the example of Pennsylvania, and 
her influence paralysed Delaware and Maryland. But 
rules were adopted by Congress for the government of 
the American navy. Authority was given for enlisting 
two battalions of marines, for seizing ships carrying for 
the British army or navy, and for appointing tribunals for 
their confiscation. 

The most important warlike undertaking on the 
American side during the autumn was the invasion of 
The invasion Canada, a measure of which the Congress had 
Mon"^'^^^^ in June expressly disclaimed the intention, 
gomery. Of all the enterprises of the war, this was the 
most gallant and the most fruitless. The command was 
given to Brigadier-General Montgomery, an English 
officer who had joined the American standard, and a 
gentleman of chivalrous bravery. He had served in 
the Seven Years War, had been a comrade of Colonel 



1775- First Period. II5 

Barre, one of the Opposition leaders in the House of 
Commons, and had.also been with Wolfe at the taking of 
Quebec. Everything at first favoured the invaders. The 
French, and even the Indians, showed themselves friendly, 
and many of the former joined the Americans. Although 
an unauthorised attempt by Ethan Allen to repeat upon 
Montreal his surprise of Ticonderoga failed, that city, 
after the reduction of Fort St. John, was occupied without 
resistance (Nov. 12). Here Montgomery's difficulties 
began — difficulties such as every other American com- 
mander after him would have to grapple with. The bulk 
of his soldiers had enlisted only for a few months ; their 
time was up, and they insisted upon returning home. 

Meanwhile, from the border of Maine, a man of very 
different stamp from Montgomery, but of reckless 
courage, Benedict Arnold, formerly a horse- Arnold • 
dealer, was pushing towards Quebec. He had the failure 
been detached by Washington from his army bee (Dec. 
(Sept. 11), with about 1,100 men. The diffi- 31,1775)- 
culties of the march were extreme. The second in com- 
mand deserted with three companies ; the invaders had 
to eat not only their last ox, but their last dog ; then to 
feed on roots and moose-skin moccasins, and were 
two days altogether without food. By the time Arnold 
reached the walls of Quebec, he had but 900 barefoot 
and ragged men, — too few to attempt anything. When 
Montgomery joined him in December, he could only 
bring 300 more, so that the combined American forces 
made up less than 1,000 men, besides 200 Canadian 
volunteers. With this small force an insanely heroic 
attempt was made, on the last day of the year, to 
storm ' the strongest fortified city in America, defended 
by more than 200 cannon of heavy metal, and a garrison 
of twice the number of the besiegers.' It failed of course : 
Montgomery was killed, and more than a third of the 



Ii6 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

American force were taken prisoners. But Arnold re- 
mained encamped outside the walls with the fragments of 
the army, declaring that he would not leave the place till 
he entered it in triumph, but asking for 10,000 men, whom 
he was httle likely to get, to achieve his triumph. 

The new year did not open more auspiciously for the 
American cause than the old year had closed. There had 
been some hostilities in the south, in South Carolina 
and Virginia. Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, of 
whom Washington wrote (Dec. 26), that if he were not 
' crushed before spring,' he would prove ' the most for- 
midable enemy of America,' issued a procla- 

Lord Dun- . , , . • i i j re • 

more in Vir- mation declarmg martial law, and otiermg 
foTk1bum°'^' ps-rdon to ' all indented servants, negroes, or 
(Jan. I, others, appertaining to rebels,' if they would 

American^ join him. Driven out of Norfolk on New Year's 
^^^- day, he cannonaded and burnt it, as Gage had 

cannonaded and burnt Falmouth six weeks before. 
Measures like these stirred far and wide among the 
Americans feelings of hatred towards the mother-country, 
and longings for revenge. On the same New Year's 
day (1776) on which Norfolk was burnt, the American 
flag was first unfurled, having no stars as yet, but with 
thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, the crosses of 
St. George and St. Andrew being still retained on a blue 
ground in the corner. The Congress had in the previous 
month voted the building of thirteen ships of war. 

Washington was still before Boston, struggling always 
against the difficulties of short enlistments, insufficient 
Washing- ammunition, and want of money ; credited with 
cukfes'^" an army of 20,000 men, and actually in com- 
continue. mand of less than half that number. The Con- 
necticut men were especially unruly, and many would not 
even wait the expiration of enlistment to return home. The 
same desire of ' retiring into a chimney corner ' as Wash- 



1776. First Period. 117 

ington graphically expressed it, ' seized the troops of New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, so soon as 
their time expired.' In vain did Congress authorise him 
to attack Boston, even at the risk of destroying the 
town ; he had not more powder than was absolutely 
necessary to defend the lines if attacked (Dec. 4, I775)> 
and he durst not say so. ' Search the volumes ot 
history through,' he wrote to a friend, 'and I much 
question whether a case similar to ours can be found ; 
namely, to maintain a post against the flower of the 
British troops for six months together, without powder, 
and then to have one army disbanded and another to be 
raised within the same distance of a reinforced enemy. It 
is too much to attempt.' If he should be able to rise su- 
perior to his difficulties, he wrote to the same correspon- 
dent ' I shall most religiously beheve that the hand of 
Providence is in it to blind the eyes of our enemies.' About 
three weeks later he had nearly 2,000 men in camp with- 
out firelocks (Feb. 9). Still he had come by this time in 
his slow way to a conviction which would be worth many 
victories to America, that independence must be declared. 

His patient toil was at last rewarded. On March 4 
he succeeded in one night in occupying and in- 
trenching Dorchester heights, which com- Boston 
manded the city and harbour of Boston. A ^i^^ch^^'^' 
violent storm prevented an early assault by 1776. 
the British, whilst the lines of the Americans w^ere 
pushed forwards; and on the 17th General Howe with 
the British troops evacuated Boston, which was at once 
taken possession of, the main body of the Americans en- 
tering on the 20th. The British fleet remained ten days 
longer in the harbour or in the roads, but attempted 
nothing further. New England was from henceforth 
substantially free. 

Congress, which some months before had authorised 



ii8 The War of American Indepeiidence. a.d. 

Washington to employ armed vessels (the crews of which 
seem to have been even greater trouble to him 
Congress ; than his own soldiers), now took the bold step 
resolution q£ authorising privateers to cruise, but against 
slave trade , the ships of Great Britain only, and not of 
Ireland (March 23). A still more important 
resolution — the result probably in great measure of Go- 
vernor Dunmore's offer of freedom to the slaves — was one 
against the import of slaves 'into any of the thirteen 
united colonies.' Last of all, on April 6, the trade of the 
colonies was thrown open to all the world ' not subject to 
the King of Great Britain,' a step which must be con- 
sidered to have been the virtual death-blow to the old 
colonial system throughout the world, as well as, what 
Mr. Bancroft calls it, 'a virtual declaration of indepen- 
dence.' The commercial interests of the world at large 
were henceforth engaged in the struggle on behalf of 
the revolted colonies. 

Already a ' committee of secret correspondence ' had 
appointed Silas Deane, an ex-schoolmaster, ' commercial 
America Commissioner and agent/ to solicit from France 
secretly clothing and arms for 25,000 men, 100 field- 
France and pieces, and ammunition. But long before his 
Spain. arrival, the question of aiding the Americans 

was being discussed in the French cabinet. On the very 
day when the colonial trade was thrown open (April 6), the 
far-sighted and benevolent Turgot signed a memorandum 
in which, whilst insisting that nothing could arrest the 
course of events which sooner or later would ' certainly 
bring about the absolute independence of the English 
colonies, and, as an inevitable consequence, effect a total 
revolution in the relations of Europe and America,' he 
yet deprecated any measures of aid tending to involve 
France, still less Spain, in the war. But the spirit of 
intrigue was strong among French diplomatists, and 



1776. First Period. 119 

there was money to be gathered by fingering contracts. 
Vergennes, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, was 
strongly in favour of aiding the Americans. Turgot was 
overruled. In May, Louis XVI. announced to the King 
of Spain that he was about to advance a milhon of French 
livres to the Americans. The King of Spain, ' assigning 
a false reason at his own treasury for demanding the 
money,' sent a million more. The chief go-between in 
the matter had been a wondrously clever jack-of-all- 
trades, the watch-maker, musician, playwright, financier, 
Beaumarchais, the creator of that personage of Figaro, 
whose name is now naturalised in every European 
language. 

From this time to that of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence (July 4, 1776), the dissolution of the old fabric of 
colonial government proceeds apace. South 
Carolina had established a constitution for itself of tiie old 
as early as March 26. In North Carolina vemmenfs: 
the Chief Justice, in his opening charge to the Declaration 
grand jury, declared to them 'that George III., dencep^o- 
King of Great Britain, has abdicated the go- p^^^^^- 
vernment, that he has no authority over us, and we owe 
no obedience to him.' The General Assembly of Rhode 
Island (May 4) discharged the inhabitants of the colony 
from allegiance to the king. The Virginia House of Bur- 
gesses^ on the ground that the ancient constitution of the 
colony had been subverted by the king and parliament, 
dissolved itself (May 6). A convention of delegates 
which assembled the same day instructed the representa- 
tives of Virginia in congress to propose that the United 
Colonies be declared ' free and independent States, ab- 
solved from all allegiance or dependence upon the crown 
or parliament of Great Britain' (May 15); and issued 
(June 12), a celebrated declaration of rights, which became 
substantially the foundation of the still more celebrated 



1 20 The War of A merican Independence. a.d. 

Declaration of Independence. Meanwhile the Congress 
had adopted a resolution proposed by John Adams, for 
allowing the colonies to frame their own governments, 
with a preamble that it was ' absolutely irreconcilable with 
reason and good conscience ' for the people of the colonies 
to bear allegiance to ' any government under the crown of 
Great Britain,' and that it was necessary that the exercise 
of every kind of government under the crown should 
be totally suppressed. On June 7 Richard Henry Lee, 
on the part of Virginia, proposed, and John Adams 
seconded, a resolution declaring the independence of 
the United Colonies, the expediency of forming foreign 
alliances, and of framing a plan of confederation. The 
two latter portions of the proposal were at once assented 
to, and committees appointed for carrying them into effect ; 
the consideration of the first was postponed for three 
weeks, but a committee was also appointed for drawing 
up a declaration to the effect proposed. 

Whilst the committees are sitting, let us cast a glance 
at military events. Perhaps that which most affected 
British at- nien's minds was the attempt of a British fleet 
tack on Fort ^s^^ troops upon Charleston, and the cannon- 
American' ade, though by the fleet alone (June 28), of a 
CanadaVthe f^^^ on Sullivan's Island, since known as Fort 
retreat. Moultrie, in honour of the gallant and success- 

ful resistance of its commander. One of the frigates which 
had run aground had to be deserted and set on fire, and 
the total British loss in killed and wounded was 205, as 
against 37 on the American side. This success, small 
as it was, served to make up for the disastrous results of 
the expedition to Canada, where, as before mentioned, 
Arnold, after Montgomery's death, had been left below 
Quebec with a few hundred men. Of the 10,000 men 
asked for by Arnold, only 1,500 had reached Montreal by 
the middle of March. The general in chief command, 



1776. Fii'st Pej'iod. 1 21 

Wooster, was aged and inefficient ; he had as usual neither 
money nor suppHes ; the peasantry were irritated by requisi- 
tions ; the population, at first favourably disposed towards 
the invaders, soon became hostile almost to a man, and a 
party of Canadians attempted, though unsuccessfully, to 
raise the blockade of Quebec. In vain by the orders 
of Congress did Washington send more than 3,000 
men as reinforcements from the continental army. 
Smallpox broke out, a retreat was ordered, which a 
sally turned into a rout, and although the Congress still 
made further efforts to send more men, the remnants of 
the army, which in little more than two months had lost 
by desertion and death more than 5,000 men, had to fall 
back within the American frontier in a most pitiable con- 
dition, so that an eyewitness declared that he did not look 
into a tent or a hut in which he did not find ' either a 
dead or a dying man' (early days of July 1776). 

Not long after the evacuation of Boston, Washington 
had removed his head-quarters to New York (April 13), 
which it was supposed would be the object of Washington 
the next attempt on the part of the English, as at New 
the State contained many Loyalists or Tories, rabie state 
and the late Governor Tryon (who like several °* ^^^ ^^my. 
of his fellows had taken refuge on board ship), was able, 
active, and influential. Washington began by inducing the 
New York Committee of Safety to prohibit all intercourse 
with the king's ships, and then proceeded to fortify the 
town and the Hudson river. But the condition of Wash- 
ington's army itself, notwithstanding his late success, was 
most precarious. On April 28 the whole number of rank 
and file, present and fit for duty, was only 8,101. On 
June 12 it was only 6,749, all under temporary engage- 
ments. Many men were without arms ; ' one regiment 
had only 97 firelocks and 7 bayonets ; ' the artillery con 
sisted of only one regiment and one company. Conspi- 



122 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

racy even existed, in wiiich some of Washington's own 
guard were involved, and one of them was hanged after 
conviction by court martial in the presence of 20,000 
persons. This was the first military execution of the war 
(June 28). Towards the end of June Congress authorised 
enlistments for three years or for the war. 

On June 29 Washington informed the Congress that 
General Howe, who with Lord Howe had received a joint 
. . , , commission under the conciliatory provisions 

Arrival of a •' ^ 

British fleet, of the Prohibition of Trade Act, had arrived at 
commis^-°^^ Sandy Hook with forty-five ships or more, the 
sioners. j-^g^ Qf |-]^g flgg^. "being cxpectcd in a day or two. 

Thirty thousand men were supposed to be on board. 
Joseph Reed, Washington's adjutant-general, deemed the 
odds hopeless, and declared that had he known the real 
position of affairs, no consideration would have tempted him 
to take part in them. A few months before (March 15), 
the same officer had written to Washington that he was 
' infinitely more afraid' of the British commissioners 'than 
of their generals and armies.' 

It was under these circumstances, when most of the 
separate colonies had by this time passed resolutions in 
TheDecia- its favour, that the Congress adopted the 
dependences famous Declaration of Independence, penned 
July 4, 1776. by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. It declared 
as self-evident truths that all men are created equal ; 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
inahenable rights, among which are ' life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
just powers from the consent of the governed; that when- 
ever any form of government becomes destructive of 
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to 
abolish it, and to institute a new government.' It enume- 
rated a long string of acts with which the King of Great 



1776. First Period. 123 

Britain was charged, ' all having in direct object the esta- 
blishment of an absolute tyranny over these States;' as 
for instance, ' He has abdicated government here by de- 
claring us out of his protection, and waging war against 
us ; he has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt 
our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people ; he is at 
this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries 
to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny 
already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy 
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally- 
unworthy the head of a civilised nation ; he has con- 
strained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, 
to bear arms against their country, to become the execu- 
tioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves 
by their hands ; he has created domestic insurrections 
amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabi- 
tants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose 
known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of 
all ages, sexes, and conditions.' It recounted the petitions 
for redress which had been presented, the appeals to the 
* native justice and magnanimity' of ' our British brethren/ 
who had been ' deaf to the voice of justice and consan- 
guinity,' and concluded as follows : — 

' We, therefore, the representatives of the United States 
of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to 
the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our 
intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the 
good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and 
declare that the United Colonies are, and of right ought 
to be, free and independent States ; that they are absolved 
from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all poli- 
tical connection between them and the State of Great 
Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved ; and that, as 
free and independent States, they have full power to levy 
waxj conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com- 



124 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

merce, and do all other acts and things which independent 
States may of right do. And for the support of this de- 
claration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine 
Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our hves, 
our fortunes, and our sacred honour.' 

Only one important paragraph had been struck out of 
Jefferson's draft — one charging upon the king the guilt of 
the slave trade, which it characterised as a 
relatfng ^to^ ' cruel war against human nature itself ; ' and 
thTslave'^'^ speaking of the recent offers of freedom to the 
trade struck ncgrocs as the ^ paying off former crimes com- 
mitted against the liberties of one people with 
crimes which he urges them to commit against the 
lives of another.' 

Reading it at the present day, we can see how the 
passionate and declamatory rhetoric of the Declaration 
of Independence has left its stain to this hour 
tory charac- on most of the political writing and oratory 
Declaration • ^^ America, and may wish that the birth of a 
its unfair- great nation had not been screamed into the 
world after this fashion. Nothing would have 
been easier than, in the hke rhetorical language, to draw up a 
list of the various acts of lawlessness and outrage committed 
by the colonists. Some of the charges will not bear ex- 
amination. For instance, the aid of the Indians had been 
willingly accepted by the colonists in the Canadian ex- 
pedition since September 1775 ; the general question of 
their employment had been considered by Washington in 
conference with a committee of Congress and delegates of 
the New England governments in October of the same 
year, and the main objection which Washington and other 
officers urged against it, as shown by a letter of his to 
General Schuyler, January 27, 1776, and the answer from 
the latter, was that of expense. He had nevertheless 
(April 19) advised Congress 'to engage them on our side,' 



1776. First Period. 125 

as ' they must, and no doubt soon will, take an active 
part either for or against us ; ' and Congress itself had, 
on June 3 — not a month before the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was actually accepted — passed a resolution to 
raise 2,000 Indians for the Canada service, which shortly 
afterwards was extended by another (referred to in a 
letter of Washington's of June 20) authorising General 
Washington to employ such Indians as he should take 
into the service, in any place where he might think that 
they would be most useful, and to offer them bounties — not 
indeed for scalps, but for every officer and soldier of the 
king's troops whom they might capture in the Indian coun- 
try, or on the frontiers of the colonies. When all this had 
been done, it needed the forgetfulness and the blind 
hypocrisy of passion to denounce the king to the world 
for having 'endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants 
of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages ; ' yet the 
American people have never had the self-respect to erase 
this charge from a document generally printed in the 
forefront of their constitution and laws, and with which 
every schoolboy is sedulously made familiar. Perhaps 
indeed it would have been otherwise, had not the charge 
been one which circumstances appeared to confirm. For 
in fact, owing to causes already indicated, the Americans 
never could make friends of the Indians in the contest, 
and consequently the ' merciless savages ' continue in 
history to figure on the side of the British. Who could 
wonder at it .? At the date of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, the Indian child had only just reached man's 
estate, who in the year of his birth might have escaped 
being a victim to the bounty of 20/. held out for the scalp 
of every Indian woman and child by Massachusetts in 1 755, 
whilst one of 40/. had been offered for that of his father, 
raised in 1756 to 300/. It did not require the retentive 
memory of the redskin to make him look with suspicion 



126 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

on solicitations to friendship from men who might have 
been parties to such schemes of extermination to his 
race. 

But Jefferson's violent pamphlet should in fact be 
looked upon less as a declaration of independence than 
as a declaration of war — less as an assertion of right than 
The De- as a cry of defiance, uttered in an hour of 
facronToT g^^ve peril, in the face of a formidable foe. The 
war. spirit in which it was adopted is well indicated 

in some words of Joseph Reed's : ' I have no notion of 
being hanged for half treason. When a subject draws 
his sword against his prince, he must cut his way 
through.' Viewed in the light of attendant circumstances, 
the declaration itself, and the practical unanimity with 
which it was adopted (by twelve States out of thirteen. 
New York alone abstaining) became heroic. 

But it would be entirely dwarfing the importance of 
the declaration to consider it with reference to America 
Its influen e ^^'^^- Through the general principles which 
on foreign it put forth, it appealed to all peoples that 
should deem themselves oppressed, and be- 
came as it were the charter of revolution throughout 
the world. The French declaration of the Rights of Man 
flows directly from it. It virtually cost Louis XVI. his 
head, as well as half a continent to George III. 

Throughout the revolted colonies the Declaration of 
Independence was received with unbounded enthusiasm. 
Its enthu- Its adoption was rung out to Philadelphia from 
tionln"^^*^^^' ^^^ great bell of Independence Hall, which bore 
America. for motto ' Liberty throughout the land to all 
the inhabitants thereof,' and the royal arms were brought 
from the State House and burned publicly. In Virginia 
an act was passed to substitute the Commonwealth for 
the king in the liturgy. At New York the leaden statue 
of George III. was pulled down and cast into bullets. 



1776. First Period. 127 

On the evening of the day when he received the decla- 
ration, Washington had the troops paraded, and each 
division hstened bareheaded whilst it was being read 
(July 9). 

Nevertheless, few saw the truth that the independence of 
the States must be a dream unless based upon their union. 
A draft of confederation was brought into The need of 
Congress by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania ""ar"efy flit. 
on July 12. So feeble was the sort of union Postpone- 

, , n r . ,• ,1 ment of the 

proposed, that all power of taxation was to be plan of con- 
withheld from the ' United States assembled,' federation, 
except for postage. Yet Rutledge of South Carolina, in 
language characteristic of his State, treated the plan as 
' destroying all provincial distinctions, and making every- 
thing of the most minute kind bend to what they call the 
good of the whole,' and thus in fact saying ' that these 
colonies must be subject to the government of the eastern 
provinces,' the force of whose arms he held ' exceedingly 
cheap,' while he dreaded ' their low cunning, and those 
levelling principles which men without character and with- 
out fortune in general possess.' The whole secession war 
of our days is prefigured in these words. As it was. 
Congress only deliberated on the plan, and then postponed 
it. Meanwhile, the Declaration of Independence was 
signed (Aug. 2) by every member of Congress. 

Dark days were at hand. On July 8 General Howe 
landed 9,000 men on Staten Island. On the 12th, part 
of Lord Howe's fleet stood in, and two men 
of war with their tenders sailed up the Hud- commis- 
son, passed the batteries of New York unin- wrsh?ngt(?n- 
jured, took soundings, and returned. Before New York 
proceeding to hostilities Lord Howe sent 
ashore a proclamation promising pardon to all who should 
come in. Washington forwarded it to Congress, which 
caused it to be published. Attempts were even made to 



128 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

communicate with Washington, by letters directed to 
* George Washington, Esq.,' or ' George Washington, 
&c., &c. ; ' but he refused to receive any that did not 
recognise him as commander of the American army. 
Before hostiUties began, some weeks more elapsed, during 
which the English received further reinforcements, making 
up their forces to about 24,000 men, besides the fleet, whilst 
Washington strengthened the fortifications of New York. 
Many of the king's troops were Hessians and other 
foreigners ; and — perhaps as a set-off to Lord Howe's 
proclamation of pardon — resolutions of Congress were 
circulated offering citizenship and bounties in land to all 
foreigners who should leavethe British service(Aug. 14,27), 
The city of New York, divided on the west from 
the coast of New Jersey by the Hudson river, a channel 
Battle of of which, further south, called the Narrows, 
AuglsVi^"'^' separates Staten Island from Long Island, 
1776. is itself divided on the east from the latter 

by East River, a ferry over which connects it with 
the village, now suburb, of Brooklyn. Here General 
Putnam had his camp, and in front of it were 9,000 
Americans under General Sullivan and General Stirling 
(commonly called Lord Stirling, though his claim to the 
title had been rejected by the House of Lords). Wash- 
ington remained in New York with a garrison already too 
small for its defence. On August 22 the British under 
Sir H. Clinton crossed from Staten Island, 10,000 strong, 
to the south of Long Island, which was undefended, and 
in three divisions advanced through the island. An 
important road, which led to the rear of the American 
position, called the Jamaica road, had been left open. In 
the engagements which ensued (August 27) the Americans 
found themselves surrounded; both their generals were 
taken prisoners, with 1,076 men (including some militia 
taken after the action), and their total loss was 1,650, 



1776. First Period. 129 

against 379 on the British side, of whom 94 were killed and 
missing. Washington crossed from New York during 
the battle, but could only save the remnant of the army. 
General Howe did not attack the fort on Brooklyn 
Heights till the next day, and a heavy fog interrupted 
hostilities. On the night of Aug. 29-30 Washington 
succeeded in embarking the whole army for New York, 
but the heavy artillery had to be left behind. The loss 
of the battle of Long Island is ascribed partly to the ill- 
ness of General Greene, who had superintended the works 
and knew the ground thoroughly, whilst his hastily ap^ 
pointed successor. General Putnam, knew neither. In 
fact it appears that during the engagement no one officer 
was actually in command. 

Worse than the defeat of Long Island were its effects. 
* Our situation/ wrote Washington to Congress (Sept. 2), 
'is truly distressing. The check our detach- Discourage- 
ment sustained on the 27th ultimo has dis- "lentofthe 

' troops ; 

pirited too great a proportion of our troops, Washing- 
and filled their minds with apprehension and tion^despe- 
despair. The militia are dismayed, intractable, ^^^^' 
and impatient to return. Great numbers of them have 
gone off; in some instances almost by whole regiments, 

by half-ones, and by companies at a time Their want 

of discipline, and refusal of almost every kind of restraint 
and government, have produced a like conduct but too 
common to the whole, and an entire disregard of that 
order and subordination necessary to the well-doing of an 

army I am obliged to confess my want of confidence 

in the generality of the troops.' He was convinced, he 
went on to say, that no dependence could be put in a 
militia, and ' that our liberties must of necessity be greatly 
hazarded if not entirely lost, if their defence is left to any 
but a permanent standing army, I mean one to exist during 
the war.' On September 8 the Connecticut militia had 
M. H. K 



130 TJic War of American Independence. a.d. 

become reduced in a few days from 6,000 men to less than 
2,000. At least one-fourth of the army were sick. Pay was 
two months in arrear, and the military chest was empty. 

Admiral Howe, after the battle, had anchored with the 
fleet in New York harbour, within cannon shot of the 
city. On September 1 1 a fruitless conference 
peace con- with a vicw to pcace took place on Staten 
Ne^w^York Island, between Lord Howe, Franklin, Rut- 
evacuated ledge, and John Adams. But hostilities were 
^^ ■ ^^ ' not suspended. On September 13 some of 
Lord Howe's ships sailed up East River, and began can- 
nonading. Two days later a large body of troops was 
disembarked, and the Americans were so demoralised 
that eight regiments left their lines without firing a shot on 
the approach of seventy men of the British. Washington 
tried in vain to check their flight, threatening them with 
sword and pistol, and in endeavouring to set them an 
example he rode so near to the enemy that he had to be 
forced away by an aide-de-camp. Fearing to be again 
taken in the rear, Washington, supported by the great 
majority of a council of Avar, now ordered the evacuation 
of the city. Greene, probably the ablest commander 
after Washington, had been foremost in urging evacua- 
tion, and — to use his own words — the Americans made 
a '■ miserable, disorderly retreat,' losing a considerable 
part of their baggage, and leaving behind most of their 
heavy cannon and part of their stores and provisions 
(Sept. 1 5). Washington encamped with the main body 
of his forces on Haarlem Heights, on the neck of land 
forming the northern end of New York (or Manhattan) 
Island, which he proceeded to fortify ; a fort called Fort 
Washington, in particular, was constructed on a rocky 
height overlooking the Hudson. Meanwhile General (now 
Sir WilHam) Howe, sending a detachment to occupy New 
York (in which a fire broke out five days later, and de- 



1776. First Period. 1 3 1 

stroyed about a tenth part of the city), encamped in 
front of the American lines. A successful skirmish 
between advanced parties of both armies somewhat in- 
spirited the American troops. 

At the urgent entreaty of Washington, who declared 
success impossible unless the military system was changed 
(Sept. 24), Congress now ordered a new army c^^^ress 
of eighty-eight battalions to be raised, vvhich raises a new 
was to serve throughout the war, bounties both serve during 
of money and land being offered to soldiers and '^^ ^^'^^' 
officers. Yet the plan thus entered upon seemed likely to 
•defeat itself. The States in turn offered additional 
bounties, particular towns higher bounties still, and in 
this competition for soldiers men began to hang back for 
the sake of obtaining better terms, whilst the different 
conditions of enlistment produced jealousies and bicker- 
ings. The different States quarrelled about the appoint- 
ments, without regard to the qualifications of officers, 
and nominated, to use Washington's words, such as were 
•'not fit to be shoeblacks, from the local attachments of 
this or that member of Assembly.' 

Sir William Howe was not sleeping on his laurels. 
He sent up the Hudson two ships, which cut off Wash- 
ington's communications by water, and moved 
up himself to the north-east of W^ashington's Howe's ad- 
camp, in order to take him in the rear. The j\"t^Vash- 
Haarlem Heights lines now became untenable, ington taken 

, 1 • • . 1 • -J . (Nov. 16). 

and leavmg — agamst his own judgment — a 
strong garrison at Fort Washington, Washington with- 
drew northwards to White Plains, and again, after an 
engagement (October 28), in which the Americans had to 
fall back, to the heights of North Castle. Howe now fell 
back, and Washington profited by the occasion to cross the 
Hudson with part of his army, at the only place left free 
by the British ships, and took up his position at Fort Lee, 



132 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

opposite Fort Washington, in order to cover Philadelphia. 
But from this spot again he had to witness disaster. 
Fort Washington was attacked (November 16) from four 
points at once by a large force, the ammunition failed, 
and after a few hours' defence the fort surrendered, with 
2,818 men, besides artillery, arms, and ammunition ; the 
British had, however, lost nearly 1,000 men in killed and 
wounded in the action. Washington, it is said, cried like 
a child at seeing the slaughter of his men, whom he could 
not relieve. 

Three days later, 6,000 British troops under Lord 
Cornwallis crossed the Hudson above Fort Lee, which 
Washino-- Washington had to evacuate in haste, leaving 
ton's retreat a large booty behind. All the troops he had 

through . 1 1 . ,1 . , 

New Jersey; With him wcrc Only about 3,000 men, without 
Ishuid re- tents, baggage, or entrenching tools, many of 
covered by them without shocs. With these he had to 

the British ; ^t- t. ,.-,,. . 

results of the retreat across New Jersey, the inhabitants of 
campaign, -^yhich, as he afterwards wrote, ' either from 
fear or disaffection, almost to a man, refused to turn 
out ' to his aid. He was pursued so closely by Lord 
Cornwallis that the advance guard of the latter entered 
Newark before the American rear-guard had left it. 
Having crossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania he 
sent one of his generals to represent in person to the 
Congress the weakness of the army and its need of 
early succour. Fortunately perhaps for the American 
cause, Lord Cornwallis did not attempt to cross the river. 
Sir Guy Carleton, meanwhile, had from Canada occu- 
pied Crown Point (October), and Sir H. Clinton, with 
a detachment of 6,000 men from New York, had re- 
covered Rhode Island (Dec. 6). The result of the cam- 
paign of 1776 was to leave nearly 2,000 more Ameri- 
can prisoners in British hands, than British in American 
(4,854 against 2,860) ; and among the captured Americans 
were 304 officers, whilst there were not more than 50 



1776. First Period. 133 

among the British, a pretty clear proof that the American 
rank and file were not to be depended on. 

In England the Declaration of Independence had been 
generally received with indignation. Parliament met on 
October 3 1 . There was much abuse of America, indignation 
and though Wilkes, Barre', and Fox spoke Engf^id"by 
cneriretically on an amendment to the address the Deciara- 

Q J ... tion of Inde- 

by Lord John Cavendish, their minority was pendence ; 
only 87 to 128, whilst in the Lords an amend- parisfjo'hu 
ment of Lord Rockingham's obtained only 26 the Painter. 
votes, and from this time he and his party pointedly kept 
aloof from public business. The warnings of Fox and 
Barre as to an impending war wdth France were treated 
with scorn by the ministers. But the king himself was 
anxious as to this danger. He had ground for being so. 
On December 21 Franklin reached Paris, w^here his fame 
as a man of science had long preceded him. In his plain 
brown coat and powderless grey hair he took the streets 
and the drawing-rooms alike by storm. Before the year 
closed he had already obtained permission to bring 
American prizes into both French and Spanish ports, and 
initiated negotiations for a treaty. An attempt to fire 
Portsmouth dockyard by a man named James Aitken, 
nicknamed John the Painter, created considerable alarm 
just before this period (Dec. 6). It was said that there w^as 
a plot to destroy all the English dockyards, and that Silas 
Deane, American commissioner in Paris, was privy to it. 
The incendiary was hanged a few months later. 

It was in America that the American cause looked 
worst. To the bulk of mankind, success always implies 
genius, and disaster incapacity. Loud was Outcry in 
the outcry against Washington after his late f^^f^l^t'^ 
reverses. Some of the officers nearest to his Washington. 

1 , . • -i • TT • Reed and 

person lost their trust in him. Having to open Lee ; Lee's 
in their absence all official letters to his capture. 
generals, he opened one day a letter (dated Nov. 24, 1776) 



134 ^•^^^ War of American Independence. a.d. 

addressed to his own secretary and confidential friend^ 
Colonel Joseph Reed. The writer was General Lee, who 
had been left east of the Hudson — in his own opinion^ 
and in that of many, the rightful claimant to the command 
in chief The letter contained the following passage : 
' I lament tuitJi you that fatal indecision of mind which 
in war is a much greater disqualification than stupidity 
or even want of personal courage. Accident may put a 
decisive blunderer in the right, but eternal defeat and mis- 
carriage must attend the man of the best parts if cursed 
with indecision. To confess the truth, I really think our 
chief will do better with me than without me.' Washington 
inclosed the letter to Reed, magnanimously excusing him- 
self for having seen it, as ' having no idea of its being a 
private letter, much less suspecting the tendency of the 
correpondence,'and did not even seekto remove Reedfrom 
his secretaryship ; the latter, however, soon retired from 
the army. Yet a singular retribution was at hand. Lee^ 
after disobeying for a long time Washington's orders and 
disregarding his entreaties to cross the Hudson into New 
Jersey, and even seeking to draw away 2,000 men from 
another division of the army, in the hope of making a dash 
on New York, was captured at night by a British scouting 
party. General Sullivan (the prisoner of Long Island, 
who had some time since been exchanged) succeeded to 
his command, and promptly joined Washington, who by 
this means, and through the receipt of other reinforce- 
ments, had soon 5,000 men under him. 

The situation was none the less most serious. The- 
Disaffection I^i'itisli had Rhodc Island and nearly all New 
in Pennsyi- Jersey; Pennsylvania was threatened, and Con- 
Washing- gress withdrew to Baltimore. So little public 
rary miUtan/ spirit was there in Pennsylvania that the 
dictatorship, militia not only refused to obey the summons 
of the Council of Safety and that of their commanding: 



1776. First Period. 1 3 5 

officers, but exulted at the approach of the British and 
the late misfortunes of the Americans. Washington 
had to urge the prudence of disarming them. To his 
brother he went so far as to write, ' If every nerve is not 
strained to recruit the new army with all possible expedi- 
tion, I think the game is pretty nearly up' (December 18), 
Still, he was so persuaded of the justice of the cause that 
he could not entertain an idea that it would ' finally sink.' 

To its cre^lit be it said. Congress lost neither heart 
nor yet trust in the commander of its choice, but invested 
Washington with a temporary military dictatorship, re- 
solving that, until otherwise ordered, General Washington 
should ' be possessed of all power to order and direct all 
things relative to the department and to the operations of 
war' (December 12). The measures taken for obtaining 
more permanent forces were already beginning to tell ; 
but Washington at once began to raise more troops, in- 
cluding a corps of engineers, and promised increased pay 
to soldiers re-engaging. 

And now this 'indecisive' commander showed what 
stuff he was made of. The British were ready to cross 
into Pennsylvania, and indeed were only wait- The surprise 
ing till the Delaware was frozen over. On of Trenton. 

° December 

Christmas night, 1776, though the number of 25, 1776. 
his forces was less than he ' had any conception of (the 
adjutant-general's return of December 22 only gave 4,707 
rank and file present and fit for duty), Washington him- 
self, with 2,400 men and twenty pieces of artillery, crossed 
the river, swollen with floating ice, into New Jersey, sur- 
prised Trenton, where there were 1,500 Hessians with a 
body of English cavalry, took a thousand prisoners, a 
thousand stand of arms, and six field-pieces, and re- 
crossed the Delaware with prisoners and booty, leaving 
the Hessian commander mortally wounded, with six ot 
his officers and between thirty and forty of his men killed, 



136 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

■whilst the Americans had only lost four men, of whom two 
were frozen to death. 

The British havino^ fallen back to Princeton, Washing- 
ton again crossed the Delaware, and established himself 
The battle of ^-t Trcnton. But Lord Cornwallis, at the 
Jan"uar°"' niomcnt of embarking for England had been 
3777; New ordered back by Sir W. Howe to New Jersey, 
nearly re- and soon camc up with overwhelming forces, 
covered. Washington now tried to surprise Princeton, 
and would have entirely succeeded but for his meeting a 
British brigade marching to Trenton. In the engagement 
which followed, known as the battle of Princeton, January 
13, 1777, the American advanced troops at first gave 
way, but were rallied by Washington, and the result was 
a loss of 400 on the British side, and about one quarter 
that number on the American. Cornwallis was sub- 
stantially outmanoeuvred. Washington went into winter 
quarters at Morristown, raised by authority of Congress 
sixteen more battalions of regular troops, and so harassed 
the British that at last they retained two posts only in New- 
Jersey. Even from these they withdrew after a few months 
(July), General Howe having vainly endeavoured to tempt 
Washington to a general engagement. 

Yet in spite of all measures for increasing the army, 
Washington's forces were always slipping through his 
Washin hands. We find him writing on January 26 : 

ton's winter ' The cncmy must be ignorant of our numbers, 
smallpox ' or they have not horses to move their artillerj'-, 
disastrous, qj. |.]^gy -vvould not Suffer us to remain undis- 
turbed.' On February 20: ^At this time we are only 
about 4,000 strong.' On March 14 the whole force fit for 
duty in New Jersey was under 3,000, all except 981 militia 
engaged only till the last of the month. Smallpox raged 
terribly. Vaccination had not yet been thought of, and 
inoculation — a practice now penal — was the only available 



177 First Period. 137 

remedy. The number under inoculation, with their at- 
tendants, was about 1,000. Apprehension of the smallpox 
greatly retarded enlistments (April 13). Pay was as usual 
in arrear, and the desertions were ' amazing ' (April 27). 
indeed Washington wrote, as late as June i, that the 
numbers of his troops diminished more by desertions than 
they increased by enlistments. It was under such diffi- 
culties that Washington gradually pressed back the British 
troops towards New York. 

It is right to say, on the other hand, that the ravages 
exercised by the British troops in New Jersey, where 
'Tories' and 'Whigs' were plundered alike. The ravages 
roused a feeling against them which all the °i^h^^iie,mte 
appeals of Washington and of Congress had the people. 
failed to call forth. By July 4 we find Washington 
writing that the spirit with which the militia of New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania had turned out lately on the alarm of a 
movement of General Howe's, had 'far exceeded' his 
* most sanguine expectations.' 

Strange to say, one of the difficulties of Washington 
and of the Congress at this period arose from the sym- 
pathies which the American cause was begin- Foreign 
ning to create in Europe, or perhaps, to speak Jhey"become 
more correctly, the attraction which the war a difficulty, 
offered to unquiet spirits while peace prevailed in the 
Old World. The American commissioners in Paris were 
lavish in promises of commissions, and for a time Con- 
gress was generous in fulfilling those promises. We find 
Washington (May 17), asking almost angrily of his 
friend Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, what Congress 
expects him to do ' with the many foreigners they have at 
different times promoted to the rank of field officers, and 
by the last resolve, two to that of colonels.' Eventually it 
came to this, that a French officer named Ducoudray 
came out with the promise, not only of a major-general- 



138 The War of American Independcjicc. a.d. 

ship, but of the command of the whole artillery. So 
disgusted were the American officers at this, that three 
generals — Greene, Sullivan, and Knox — wrote to Congress 
threatening to resign if he were appointed. They were 
reprimanded ; but the promise made by Commissioner 
Deane was not ratified. 

Many of the new-comers were no doubt adventurers^ 
but not all. A young French officer of eighteen, the 
The Marquis Marquis de la Fayette, afterwards the General 
eue^ Kos- Lafayette of two French revolutions, being on 
ciusko. military duty at Metz, v^^as present at a dinner 

(1776), given by his commandant to the Duke of 
Gloucester, brother to George III., then passing through 
the city. The Duke had just received despatches from 
England relating to American matters, and referring to 
the Declaration of Independence. La Fayette listened, 
asked questions of the royal guest, took fire for the 
American cause, and resolved from that hour to devote 
himself to it. He went to Paris, sought out Silas Deane 
the American commissioner, who promised him a major- 
generalship, with a passage on board a ship which was to 
be sent out with arms and supplies for the Americans. But 
when the news came of Washington's flight from New 
Jersey, the credit of the insurgents fell so low that no 
ship could be had, and Americans even dissuaded the 
young Frenchman from going out. Instead of being 
daunted by such tidings, he bought and equipped a ship 
for himself, and undertook to carry despatches for Wash* 
ington. His own Government as well as the English one 
sought to intercept him — the story of his escape is a ro- 
mance in itself — but he got aw^ay through Spain in safety,, 
and eventually landed near Georgetown in South Caro- 
lina. Among twelve officers, his companions, was the 
veteran De Kalb, whom Choiseul had sent ten or twelve 
years before as secret agent to America. On his arrival 



1777- First Period. 1 39 

at Philadelphia, La Fayette's application for employment 
was at first coolly received ; but when he wrote that his 
conditions were that he should serve without pay as a 
volunteer, the marked difference of such terms from those 
demanded by others procured attention to him. A captain 
of dragoons, although not yet twenty, La Fayette received 
(July 31) a major-general's commission, and soon became 
intimate with Washington, towards whom he conceived an 
enthusiastic attachment. Another foreign officer who did 
good service to the American cause from this period was 
the young Polish engineer Kosciusko. In the same month 
of July the national flag — ' the stars and stripes ' — was 
adopted by Congress ; and we may also mention the bold 
capture in Rhode Island of the English general Prescott, 
by an American party ; a kind of set-off to that of Lee 
by the English. 

In England, George III. and his ministers were carry- 
ing all before them, although an adversary, whom they 
had not had to reckon with for some time now, 
again confronted them. On May 30, 1777, ham's re- 
Lord Chatham, who for two years had not exped?tion^' 
been present at the House of Lords, appeared from Canada 
in his place, a gouty figure swathed in flannels. 
He urged peace with America, before France and 
Spain became parties to the war. ' You cannot,' he ex- 
claimed, 'conquer the Americans. I might as well 
talk of driving them before me with this crutch.' His 
motion was rejected by 99 votes to 28. Yet it was 
difficult to obtain troops. Only 3,252 men were sent 
in the course of the year to America from Great Britain 
and Ireland, and 726 to Canada ; nor could more than 
3,596 be obtained from Germany. Much reliance was 
however placed upon the American loyalists, and upon 
the Indians. To give the largest scope to the services of 
the latter, an expedition from Canada was planned, the 



iz|.o The War of American Independence. a.i>. 

command of which was given to General Burgoyne, a 
famous wit and man of fashion, author of a successful 
comic opera and comedy. 

With 3,724 British soldiers, 3,016 Germans, 250 
provincials, 473 artillerists, besides Indian auxiliaries, 
Burgoyne's Burgoyne, having left Crown Point on July i, 
firsTsuccess- i^^o^ed up Lake Champlain, intending to effect 
fui- a junction with the southern army under 

Howe. The expedition was at first successful. Ticonde- 
roga was evacuated without striking a blow, through the 
erection of batteries on a height deemed inaccessible, 
which commanded the fort (July 6). The British came 
up with the rear-guard of the retreating corps, and de- 
feated it with a loss of about 400 in killed and prisoners, 
took Skenesborough and the stores collected there, com- 
pelled the evacuation of Fort Edward on the Hudson 
(July 30), invested Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk, and 
defeated with great loss a body of militia which were 
marching to relieve it. But now the tide turned. 

The Americans had large supplies at Bennington, in 
New Hampshire : Burgoyne sent a party to surprise the 
Battle of place, under Colonel Baum. The latter finding 
Aueust^i*?"' strong intrenchments, halted, and sent word to 
1777- his commander-in-chief. Before reinforcements 

could reach him, he was attacked in his own intrench- 
ments and defeated by General Stark, who was marching 
with a militia force to join General Schuyler, the American 
commander. The reinforcements, which joined too late, 
were in turn defeated, and the result of the two engage- 
ments (Aug. 16), — known as the battle of Bennington — 
was a loss to the British of 207 killed, about 600 prisoners, 
4 cannon, and 1,000 stand of arms, the Americans 
losing only 200 in killed and wounded. Colonel St. 
Leger, who was investing Fort Schuyler with New York 
loyalists (or ^Tories') and Indians, fled in a panic to 
Canada, leaving tents, artillery, and much baggage behind. 



1777- 



First Period, 141 



Three days after the battle of Bennington, General 
Schuyler had been superseded in favour of General Gates, 
an Englishman born, who had served in the French 
and Indian wars, and had been wounded at Braddock's 
defeat. Great pains were taken to strengthen him, and 
reinforcements were sent to him from Washington's 
army, which, as the event e\en now proved, was ill able 
to spare them. 

Washington meanwhile, with enfeebled and now 
vastly inferior forces, was holding Howe in check, whilst 
eluding any general engagement. At last i?attio of 
Howe put to sea with about 18,000 men, sept.'^i^iT'"^' 
leaving Clinton wdth a strong force at New 1777- 
York, and after keeping the Americans for about three 
weeks in doubt as to his destination, entered Chesapeake 
Bay the day after a council of war had Unanimously de- 
cided that he must have sailed for Charlestown, and 
landed on the Elk river, about fifty miles from Philadel- 
phia. Washington marched to meet him with about 
14,000 men, of whom only about 8,000 were fit for ser- 
vice. The battle took place on Brandywine Creek 
(Sept. II, 1777), and the Americans were defeated, with a 
loss of 300 killed, 600 wounded, and nearly 400 prisoners, 
besides 7 or 8 pieces of cannon, as against 90 killed, and 
500 wounded or missing, on the British side. La Fayette 
was wounded. Another foreign volunteer, the Polish 
Count Pulaski, also distinguished himself in the action, 
and was made a brigadier-general. 

Having received reinforcements, Washington again 
offered battle a few days later, but a violent storm stopped 
the contest and injured his anmiunition. He Philadelphia 
was obliged to retreat. A skilful movement occupied by 

- , -r • • , 1-11 11- T the hritish, 

01 the British, which threatened his supplies, Sept. 26 ; 

through a part of the country from which he Oerman- 

could not derive, as he wTote to Congress, the '^^■*^"' ^^^- 4' 

least intelhgence, the inhabitants, ' being to a man, dis- 



142 TJic War of American Independence. a.d. 

affected/ compelled him to leave open the road to Phila- 
delphia. General Wayne, who was left to check the advance 
with 1,500 men, was surprised and defeated, and on the 
26th the British entered Philadelphia, from whence Con- 
gress had adjourned to the town of Lancaster. Eight 
■days later, a surprise of a British division at German- 
towii seemed likely to prove a great success (Oct. 4), but a 
thick fog arose, the American ammunition failed, the 
British rallied, and the assailants fled in panic with a loss 
■of 1,000 men. Four days later Sir Henry Clinton, from 
New York, carried by storm Forts Montgomery and Clin- 
ton on the Hudson river, two American frigates being also 
destroyed. An attack on the Delaware forts indeed failed 
in the first instance (Oct. 22), but even here matters looked 
so threatening that, by Washington's advice, some frigates 
which were being built on the Delaware river were sunk. 
A few weeks later the forts, after a stubborn defence, 
•were evacuated (Nov. 15-20). Washington withdrew to 
White Marsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, and 
from thence, after an attempted surprise by Howe, into 
•winter quarters at Valley Forge, on the other side of the 
Schuylkill, about twenty-two miles from the city. 

Of course the outcry was greater than ever against a 
Renewed Commander so- seldom successful, so often 
against defeated. Just now the clamour was inten- 

Washington. sificd by the brilliant successes of Gates in 
the north. 

Despite the defeat at Bennington and the failure 
before Fort Schuyler, Burgoyne had still pressed on. On 
The battles September 14 he crossed the Hudson and en- 
Sepf'i^^'^'^' camped at Saratoga, thence marched slowly 
t)ct. 7. along the Hudson till he met the Americans 

•encamped at Stillwater or Bemus's (alias Behmus's) 
heights (Sept. 19), within lines planned by Kosciusko. 
The battle continued till nightfall, when the Americans 



1777. 



First Period. 143 



Avithdrew to their camp; but the British loss was the 
greater, 500 to over 319. Burgoyne's Indian alhes and 
many of the loyahst vokmteers now deserted him. What 
remained of his army was on half-rations ; his horses 
-were without forage. Meanwhile Gates was daily re • 
■ceiving reinforcements. On October 7 Burgoyne again, 
engaged the Americans. The fight was so fierce that one 
gun was taken and retaken five times. Benedict Arnold, 
Avho had already been the hero of the previous battle, but 
Avho had been deprived of his command by the jealousy 
of Gates, resumed it under fire in spite of the latter's 
orders, and only left the field when wounded in the leg. 
General Frazer, the most brilliant of the English officers, 
was killed ; and though again night only separated the 
combatants, the British loss was far greater than the 
American, — 700 as against about 1 50. 

Burgoyne fell back to Saratoga, and was about to 
withdraw to Fort Edward, when he learnt that it was in 
the enemy's hands. He was surrounded, his Burgoyne's 
men were starving, and only 3,500 of them Saratogr^' 
were fit to fight, whilst the enemy were not less Oct. 16. 
than 14,000. A council of war was deliberating on capitu- 
lation, when an eighteen-pound ball swept across the 
table. On October 16, 5,791 British troops, with arms 
and baggage, 42 guns and ammunition, surrendered, re- 
ceiving indeed the honours of war, and being allowed 
(though the stipulation remained long unfulfilled) to em- 
bark for England, on condition of not serving again against 
the Americans until exchanged. The conduct of the 
American soldiers on the surrender was excellent ; as 
the famished remnant of veterans came out, ' all was 
mute astonishment and pity.' Sir Henry Clinton's move- 
ment up the river Hudson came too late to help Bur- 
goyne ; nor after the storming of the American forts on 
the western bank had it any further result than the 



144 'TJic War of American Indepejidcnce. a.d. 

capture of stores and destruction of property, Forts Mont- 
gomery and Clinton being evacuated (Oct. 26). 

Gates did not even apprise Washington of Burgoyne's 
surrender, but made his report direct to Congress, which 
Gates and voted him thanks and a gold medal, and when 
Washington. Washington urgently pressed him now to send 
back troops, Gates refused to part with them. Yet, as 
Washington shows in his letters, he had to fight two battles 
with forces inferior to those of his antagonists, in order, if 
possible, to save Philadelphia, in a State abounding in ' the 
disaffected and lukewarm,' whilst ' the States of New 
York and New England, resolving to crush Burgoyne,' had 
' continued pouring in their troops ' till his surrender. It 
was indeed only from a distance that Washington's work 
was appreciated. Vergennes, at an interview with the 
American commissioners (Dec. 12, 1777), declared that 
nothing had struck him so much as General Washington's 
attacking and giving battle to General Howe, with ' an 
army raised within a year.' 

In England the news of the capture of Philadelphia 

caused ' in the minds of all sorts of people,' Burke wrote, 

a ' wild tumult of joy.' As the seat of Congress, 

in'^EngianJ Philadelphia might Avell look to the European 

over the oc- observer like a capital, whereas it was in fact 

cupation 01 ^ - 

Phiiadei- but One amoug several great American cities, 
ham's incon- On the Other hand, when the gain of the cam- 
sistency. paign Came to be dispassionately weighed, it 
appeared that the whole result of British success was 
only the ' acquisition of good winter quarters for the 
British army ' in the Quaker city. When parliament met 
on November 20, more than one* warning voice was 
raised. Pownall declared that the Americans would 
never return to subjection, and that until men were con- 
vinced ' that the United States are an independent 
sovereign people,' and 'prepared to treat with them as 



1777- • First Period. 145 

such/ no schemes of conciHation could be of much use. 
Chatham, who moved an amendment in the Lords, was 
more hopeful ; but he again declared conquest impos- 
sible. ' You may swell/ he said, '■ every expense and every 
effort still more extravagantly, pile and accumulate every 
assistance you can buy or borrow ; traffic and barter 
with e\-ery little pitiful German prince that sells and sends 
his subjects to the shambles of a foreign prince, but your 
efforts are for ever vain and impotent.' He denounced 
with furious invective the employment of Indians, ' hell- 
hounds of savage war' (Dec. 2). But the inconsistency 
of his policy was palpable. ' Lord Chatham,' wrote 
Horace Walpole to the Countess of Ossory, ' is an Irish- 
man ; he would recall the troops and deny the indepen- 
dence of the Americans' (Dec. 5). The Duke of Richmond, 
on the other hand, representing the Rockingham Whigs, 
declared that he would ' sooner give up every claim to 
America than continue an unjust and cruel civil war.' 
But the quiescent attitude of the party left the ministry 
undisturbed, justifying Walpole's bitter sarcasm of a few 
months previous : ' The cruellest thing that has been said 
of the Americans by the Court is, that they were en- 
couraged by the Opposition. You might as soon light a 
tire with a wet dish-clout.' (Walpole to Mason, Oct. 5.) 

But even whilst returning from the debate of Decem- 
ber 2, the news reached Lord North of the surrender of 
Saratoga. The minister could neither eat nor sleep, and 
was anxious to give up all, or to retire. The king was in 
an agony of grief. The Opposition plucked up Gloomy im- 
heart of grace. Fox, Barre, Burke vehe- P^'^ssions 

° -; ' ^ produced by 

mently attacked the ministry, urging agreement the Saratoga 
with the Americans anyhow, a recognition of France ^'^' 
independence, or even alliance. The Duke ready to 

•^ ' treat with 

of Richmond followed the same line in the America. 
Lords (i ith). Parliament adjourned to January 20, 1778. 
M. H. L 



146 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

During the recess, it is said that the king sent over to 
Paris an old deaf Moravian, named James Hutton, well 
known to Franklin, to sound the latter as to the possibility 
of making terms. The reply was ' too late.' Nor could 
it be otherwise. On December 12, at an interview already 
referred to, Vergennes announced to the American com- 
missioners that a treaty would be entered into with them, 
but that Spain must be consulted. On the 17th they 
were informed that American independence would be not 
only acknowledged but supported by France. Yet it 
was only on the 28th that Lord Stormont, the British 
ambassador at Paris, could warn his chiefs that Spain and 
France were plotting. 

There was a sense in England of an impending crisis, 
and the king's thoughts began to turn to Chatham, though 
c r he was still determined not to give him control 

bense oi an _ ° 

impending as well as place. When parliament met again 
khig has ^ on January 20, Lord Rockingham and the 
forebodings. D^^g of Richmond again urged the recog- 
nition of American independence, though Lord Chatham, 
and even Lord Shelburne, could not yet entertain the 
idea. Lord North was always anxious to retire, and only 
remained in office under pressure of his sovereign. The 
king himself by this time (January 1778), contemplated the 
possibility that a time might come when it would be ' wise 
to abandon all America but Canada, Nova Scotia, and the 
Floridas ; ' but while he disclaimed 'any absurd ideas of un- 
conditional submission' (Jan. 31), he put the continuance 
of the war on the plea that the country had a ' right to 
have the struggle continued till convinced that it is vain.' 
In America, in spite of discord and weakness, Con- 
gress was feeling its way towards the establishment of 
American nationality. On Nov. 15, 1777, the scheme of 
confederation, which had been under consideration since 
July 1776, was, with various amendments, adopted, and 



iy77-^- Fh'st Period. i/^'j 

remitted to the several States for acceptation. Weak as it 
eventually proved — reserving to each State jhe scheme 
' its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, fLg^""- 
and every power, jurisdiction, and right not adopied by 
expressly delegated to the United States in nov^^s^' 
Congress assembled ' — it declared a perpetual ^777- 
union, and Avithheld from the several States the power 
of treating with foreign countries, or with each other, 
and other functions of sovereignty. It was not how- 
ever acceded to by any State till 1778, nor by all, as we 
shall see, till 1781. 

But Congress itself was little more than the shadow 
pf a name. The number of members present at its sit- 
tings rarely rose to 17, fell sometimes to 9. It impotenc 
tried in January 1778 to borrow, but no one of Congress. 
would lend. It could only issue more and more paper • 
money. It could not even recover its debts, and had in 
February to beg the States to enact laws for enabling it 
to do so. 

All this impotency told of course with twofold force 
upon the army. There had been dark days already 
for the commander-in-chief, but those of the washine- 
winter at Valley Forge were the darkest. The ton's mise- 
neighbourhood was chiefly Tory ; the English at Valley 
paid in cash for their supplies ; Washington ^^''s^- 
had nothing but the depreciated paper-money of Con- 
gress, and in this paper-money a general's pay scarcely kept 
him in clothes. Three days before Christmas the last 
ration had been served out. Washington declared in 
writing to the President of Congress, that unless ' some 
great and capital change ' suddenly took place, the army 
must inevitably either 'starve, dissolve, or disperse in 
order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can. 
For want of shoes or clothing 2,898 men were unfit for 
duty. He was compelled to send out foraging parties, 



1 4 8 T/ie - War of A merican Independence, a. d. 

whilst warning Congress that such measures ruined 
disciphne. By February the neighbourhood was ex- 
hausted, the horses were dying for want of forage, 
and the commissaries could see no means of supply 
beyond March ii. For six days running the soldiers 
were without meat ; and there was hardly a whole pair 
of shoes in the camp. Putrid fevers and other deadly 
diseases were rife. Desertions were ' astonishingly 
great.' In little more than six months, between 200 and 
300 officers threw up their commissions. Had Sir W. 
Howe attacked the army, he must have annihilated it. 
The Pennsylvania legislature censured the commander-in- 
chief. A cabal was formed against him, the moving spirit 
in which was an Irishman named Conway. Congress 
appointed his opponents on a new board of war, and made 
Conway inspector of the army. Propositions were made 
for putting Gates or Lee (lately exchanged for General 
Prescott) in his place. An effort was made to detach La 
Fayette from him by giving the former the command of 
an expedition to Canada, planned without consulting the 
commander-in-chief, with Conway for second in com- 
mand. But La Fayette saw through the design ; the 
attempt was felt to be impracticable, and was given up. 
Washington was maintained, and on his representations 
measures were taken for better organising the army and 
the war. 

Meanwhile the British were wasting the fruits of their 
late successes in inaction. Philadelphia proved 'the 
Inaction of Capua of the British army.' As Franklin 
the English, phrased it, instead of Howe's taking Phila- 
delphia, Philadelphia took Howe. The officers were 
spending their time in amateur theatricals and amuse- 
ments of all sorts, gambling for high stakes, and disgusting 
the staid Quaker population not only with their levity 
but their debaucheries. 



1778. Second Period, 149 

But the news which reached America in May 1778 
startled the Enghsh out of their gaieties, and woke the 
Americans out of their torpor. On Feb- The treaty 
ruary 6 not only a treaty of amity and com- France"and 
merce, but of eventual defensive alliance, ^menca, 

' '1' ebruary 6, 

was concluded at Paris between France and 1778. 
the United States. The absolute and unlimited inde- 
pendence of the United States was put forth as the 
essential object, each party agreeing not to lay down 
their arms till this independence should be ensured by 
treaty. By a separate secret convention, power was 
reserved to the King of Spain to accede to the treaties. 

To call such a treaty a defensive one was a transpa- 
rent subterfuge. Since England was at war to prevent the 
independence of her American colonies, to 
make that independence the essential object of the war 
of a treaty, and to guarantee it, was equivalent enlarged. 
to a declaration of war upon her. From henceforth 
virtually the area of the conflict becomes that of the 
ijlobe itself. 



CHAPTER VI. 



rHE WAR. SECOND PERIOD : FROM THE ALLIANCE WITH 
FRANCE TILL THE END OF THE WAR (1778-83). 

The treaty between the King of France and the United 
States was not immediately published in the former 
country. Voltaire, in a letter of March 15, France and 
speaks of its publication as a recent event, the treaty. 
His view was that ' without a declaration of war there 
would be blows struck.' France indeed was but ill 
prepared for war. Her finances had lately been en- 
trusted to the Genevese banker Necker. His credit was 



150 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

good, and he found money, where his predecessors had 
failed to do so. The device of a State lottery, amongst 
others, was tried in France, as it was also tried in 
England ; but already, at the time when Voltaire wrote, 
the tickets were at 8 per cent, discount, and there were 
5,000 which had found no purchasers. Vast sums had 
however been spent on the fleets, and France hoped 
once more, with the eventual help of Spain, to dispute 
with England the supremacy of the seas. 

In England the existence of the treaty was soon known 
to the ministry. It is said that the king's first idea on 
LordNorth's hearing of it was to withdraw at once all land 
conciliatory and sca forces from America, and concentrate 
all the efforts of England against France alone. 
This was not done ; but now, when it was too late, con- 
cessions were offered which, if granted before, would 
no doubt have averted the war. On February 17 — 
which Horace Walpole describes as 'a day of con- 
fusion and humiliation that will be remembered as 
long as the name of England exists ' — Lord North 
brought forward a plan of conciliation, in which the 
independence of the United States was acknowledged, 
to use his words, not ' verbally ' but yet ' virtually.' 
He was asked if he did not know that the treaty between 
the Americans and France was signed. ' He would not 
answer till Sir George Saville hallooed out, " An answer, 
an answer, an answer!" His lordship then rose, could 
not deny the fact, but said he did not know it officially.' 
There was no opposition to speak of, either now or 
during the progress of the measures through Parliament, 
and by the month of April three acts were passed (known 
as 'Lord North's Conciliatory Bills,' 18 Geo. III., cc. 11, 
12, 13), one of which repealed the act for regulating the 
government of Massachusetts, on the ground of its 
having been ' found to create great uneasinesses in the 



1778. Second Period. 151 

minds of the inhabitants of the said province/ and having 
' occasioned jealousies and apprehensions of danger to 
their hberties and rights in several others of the colonies 
and plantations in North America,' A second, besides 
repealing the Tea Act, renounced the right of taxation 
by the king and parliament for any of the colonies in 
North America or the West Indies, except as regarded 
duties for the regulation of commerce, and even these 
duties were to be applied for the use of the respective 
colonies in the same manner as duties collected by 
authority of their general courts or assemblies. A third 
empowered the crown to appoint two commissioners, 
with power (until June i, 1779) to treat 'with any body 
or bodies politic or corporate, or with any assembly or 
assemblies of men, or with any person or persons 
whatsoever,' for the redress of grievances, &c., to order 
a cessation of hostilities by sea or land, suspend any 
act of parliament passed since Feb. 10, 1763, grant 
pardons, &c. Any term implying rebellion was carefully 
avoided in these acts, in which the strongest expres- 
sion, besides that of ' hostilities,' was that of ' disorders 
among his Majesty's faithful subjects,' — which 'faithful' 
subjects had, in the Declaration of Independence, now 
nearly two years old, pronounced his Majesty's cha- 
racter to be ' marked by every act that may define a 
tyrant,' and himself thereby ' unfit to be the ruler of 
a free people,' Conciliation in this form could be held 
only as a demonstration of weakness. 

In the meanwhile, on March 17, the ministry had laid 
before parliament a notification from France of her treaty 
with America, which was ironically declared not r^, , • 

' -' llie king 

to be an exclusive one. Lord Stormont was at will not have 
once recalled, and the cry swelled for Lord ham as 
Chatham as premier. How unfit he was for Premier. 
the office, the course of another short month would prove. 



1 5 2 TJic War of A inerican Independence, a. d. 

But his name seemed to be a tower of strength against 
prance, and was no doubt so felt in France itself The 
king obstinately refused to give him more than high office. 
No consideration in life,' he wrote on that very March 17 
when France was known to have virtually thrown dow^n 
the gauntlet to England, ' shall make me stoop to opposi- 
tion. . . . Whilst any ten men in the kingdom will stand 
by me, I will not give myself into bondage. . . .It is 
impossible that the nation should not stand by me ; if 
they will not, they shall have another king.' With relent- 
less hatred towards Chatham he could look forward to 
the day ' w^hen decrepitude or death puts an end to him 
as a trumpet of sedition,' So Lord North, vainly beseech- 
ing to be released, remained in the pillory of his office. 

A few weeks later occurred (April 7) the last scene in 
Lord Chatham's political life. The Duke of Richmond 
Death of ^^.d brought forward a motion for the with- 
Chatham, drawal of the fleets and armies from America, 

May II, , - , ^ , • , 1 

1778. and for the use of none but amicable means 

towards her. And now Lord Chatham, who had repeat- 
edly declared that America could not be conquered, rose 
up to express his indignation at an idea which had gone 
forth of giving up America. ' As long,' he said, ' as I can 
crawl down to this house, and have strength to raise myself 
on my'crutches, or lift my hand, I will vote against giving 
up the dependency of America on the sovereignty of Great 
Britain.' He had spoken, Walpole tells us, 'with every 
symptom of debility, repeated his own phrases, could not 
recollect his own ideas.' The Duke of Richmond, in very 
measured terms, replied to him. Lord Chatham rose 
again, staggered, and fell in an apoplectic fit. The House 
adjourned. He lingered till May 11. Parliament voted 
him a public funeral and a monument, with a perpetual 
pension of 4,000/. a year to his heirs, and a large sum of 
money for payment of his debts. The funeral took place 



17 7 Second Period. 1 53 

on June 7 ; but Walpole observed that the funeral of 
Garrick the actor had been ten times more largely- 
attended. 

Meanwhile the sending of reinforcements to America 
was stopped, and an act was passed for strengthening the 
militia and to encourage volunteers. The „ 

' 11 1 r Preparations 

prospect of a war with France called forth for war with 
the warlike energies of the country, and by "^'^'^^• 
July 7 Walpole could write to Sir H. Mann : ' The country 
is covered with camps. General Conway, who has been 
to one of them, speaks with astonishment of the fineness 
of the men, of the regiments, of their discipline and ma- 
noeuvres.' Various concessions, both fiscal and eccle- 
siastical, were made to Ireland. It was not, however, till 
the end of July that France formally declared war, and as 
late as September communications remained open between 
France and England. 

On May 3, 1778, news reached Congress, and was for- 
warded by it to Washington, of the treaty with France. 
By an order of the day (May 6), stating that 'it Rejoicings 
has pleased the Almighty Ruler of the universe to °'*'^^ '^^^ 

^ o y treaty in 

defend the cause of the United American States, America. 
and finally to raise us up a powerful friend among the 
princes of the earth, to establish our liberty and indepen- 
dency upon a lasting foundation,' Washington set apart 
the following day as one of solemn rejoicing, which was 
celebrated with thanksgiving by the brigade chaplains, 
military evolutions, feux de joie, and huzzas of ' Long 
live the King of France!' ' Long live the friendly European 
Powers and The American States.' Congress at first took 
steps for reinforcing the army ; replaced the inspector- 
general Conway, who had resigned in a huff, by an expe- 
rienced Prussian lieutenant-general. Baron Steuben, late 
aide-de-camp of Frederick the Great ; and pledged to the 
officers the payment of half-pay after the close of the war. 



154 ^^^^ War of American Independence, a.d. 

Yet the promotion of foreign officers created such discon- 
tent, and often led to results otherwise so unsatisfactory, 
that a few months later we find Washington writing, ' I 
most devoutly wish that we had not a single foreigner 
among us except the Marquis dela Fayette' (July 24). 

The haste with which Lord North's Conciliatory Bills 
had been passed had been so far successful that drafts of 
Reception them, together with Lord North's speech in- 
ciiiator^°" troducing them, had reached New York 
Bills. several weeks before the French treaty. So 

entirely unexpected were such concessions, that for several 
days neither Washington nor Laurens, then President of 
Congress, could believe them genuine. When Washington 
became convinced of their genuineness, it is obvious that 
he felt considerable doubts as to the effect they would 
produce. There were symptoms to authorise an opinion 
that the people of America were ' pretty generally weary' 
of the war ; and it appeared to him doubtful whether 
many ' might not incline to an accommodation rather 
than persevere in a contest for independence.' Hence 
' to enter into a negotiation too hastily or to reject it 
altogether ' might ' be attended with consequences equally 
fatal.' Congress however promptly decided (April 22) 
' that these States cannot with propriety hold any con- 
ference or treaty with any commissioners on the part of 
Great Britain, unless they shall, as a preliminary thereto, 
either withdraw their fleets and armies, or else in positive 
and express terms acknowledge the independence of the 
said States.' The news of the French treaty could only 
strengthen the grounds for such a course. 

When therefore the commissioners under the late act 
Arrival of an'ivcd in the Delaware (June 4), their under- 
the royal taking was foredoomed to failure. They were 
ers (June 4, three in number — the Earl of Carlisle, William 
1778). Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, and George 

Johnstone, a former Governor of West Florida, hence 



1778. Second Period. 155 

commonly spoken of as Governor Johnstone. Lord Howe 
and Sir William Howe were also included in the 
commission, but the latter having resigned, his successor, 
Sir Henry Clinton, took his place. The conciliatory acts 
as passed were in the first instance forwarded to Congress 
(June 6). They replied that they had in April expressed 
their sentiments on bills not essentially different, and 
that when the king should be ' seriously disposed to end 
the unprovoked war waged against these United States,' 
they would ' readily attend to such terms of peace as may 
consist with the honour of independent nations and the 
sacred regard they mean to pay to treaties.' 

On that very day the commissioners arrived at Phila- 
delphia, to find it in course of evacuation. The French 
alliance alone, without any active measures on The evacua- 
the part of the Americans, had determined ^ei" h^/*^'^^" 
Lord George Germain to order this step by a ordered. 
secret despatch, of which the commissioners seem to 
have been unaware. The occupation of the Quaker city 
by the British had terminated with the same levity which 
had characterised it all through. Before Sir William 
Howe had left (May 24) a grand tournament or ' mis 
chianza ' had been held by the officers in his honour. 
But when Lord Carlisle landed, the British territory did 
not extend more than two miles from the city. The 
order for evacuation had been received with the 
gloomiest feelings ; 3,000 loyalists were embarking 
to escape with the troops. The commissioners had 
just time to write to Congress, offering to the ' States' 
perfect freedom of legislation and internal government 
representation in parhament, and exemption from the 
presence of troops, except with their own permission, 
and then pledging themselves to take their departure on 
board ship. But the answer (June 17) was the same as 
before, and required from the king ' an explicit acknow- 



156 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

ledgment of the independence of these States, or the 
withdrawing of his fleets and armies.' 

In the course of that night (June 17-18) Sir Henry 
Chnton finally evacuated Philadelphia, crossing the Dela- 
Phiiadelphia ware with over 17,000 men. Philadelphia was 
evacuated ; before long re-occupied by the Americans, 
Monmouth and Arnold placed in command there. Clin- 
Lee"and " ^^^ advanced slowly through New Jersey, 
Washington, retreating on New York, weakened daily by 
desertions, his baggage occupying a line eight miles 
long. 

Washington, whose forces had been slowly recruited 
during the spring, endeavoured to obstruct his march, 
and against the advice of a council of war, gave battle 
at Monmouth Court House (June 28). The weather 
was such that on the British side the Hessians refused 
to engage, alleging that it was too hot. Three sergeants 
and fifty-six men dropped down dead from the heat. 
Lee, who at first, as disapproving the movement, had 
handed over to La Fayette the conduct of the attack, 
afterwards claimed to retain it, but blundered and re- 
treated, and was found by Washington, who was march- 
ing to his support with the main body, in the rear of his 
division. Washington gave him a severe rebuke, and 
sent him back to the battle, which was sharply contested, 
and ended by leaving the Americans masters of the 
field, whilst the British took up a strong position covered 
by woods and marshes, with only a narrow pass in front, 
out of which however they effected a safe retreat during 
the night with all their wounded who could be moved. 
Leaving about 250 of their dead to be buried by the 
Americans, besides 100 prisoners, they made good their 
way to New York. The American loss was about 200 
in killed and wounded. The day after the battle Lee 
sent a challenge to W^ashington. He was thereupon 



1778. Second Period, 157 

tried by court-martial for disobedience of orders, mis- 
behaviour before the enemy, and disrespect of the com- 
mander-in-chief, found guilty on all the charges, and 
sentenced to be suspended from all command for a year. 
He never rejoined the army, and died four years later. 

On July 2 Congress met again at Philadelphia. On 
the 9th the articles of confederation were signed by 
eight States, and a circular was issued the next Articles of 
d ay to the five remaining ones, pressing them Confedera- 

•' . . '^i^''^ signed 

to conclude the ' glorious compact,' an invita- by several 
tion which was acceded to in the course of the 
month by two of them, — North Carolina and Georgia. 

Meanwhile, Clinton had scarcely reached New York, 
when a French fleet with a strong land force under 
Count d'Estaing appeared off the mouth of the DEstaing 
Delaware (July 8), An attack on New York and the 

. ^■' / /, . , French in- 

was projected, with a view to the capture or vestment of 
destruction of the British fleet which lay in the Newport. 
bay. But the French ships could not cross the bar of 
the Hudson, and it was resolved to attack the British 
at Newport, Rhode Island, which was invested by the 
Americans from the land side under General Sullivan, 
supported by La Fayette and Greene, and by the 
French fleet from the sea. But the American troops 
were not ready for a week after D'Estaing's arrival. 
Then a British fleet under Lord Howe suddenly made its 
appearance, and Count d'Estaing sailed out to meet it ; 
but a violent storm, still remembered in Rhode Island 
as 'the great storm,' separated the combatants, and so 
damaged the French fleet that before long D'Estaing, in 
spite of the efforts of La Fayette and Greene to persuade 
him otherwise, announced that he must return to Boston 
to refit, so that Sullivan (August 28) had to retreat. All 
the American general officers except La Fayette and 
Greene protested against the French admiral's departure. 
Events which, although of little military importance, 



158 The W a}' of American Independence, a.d. 

sank deep into the hearts of the Americans, and proved 
Indian mas- ^° ^^ ^^ terrible moment for the fates of the 
sacres. red men, were the incursions of the Indians 

(Iroquois), headed or aided by loyahsts, into the valley of 
the Susquehannah and Cherry Valley, and the massacres 
which ensued, accompanied by all the barbarities of 
Indian warfare. That of Wyoming in particular has been 
immortalised by the poet Campbell in his ' Gertrude of 
Wyoming.' (July and November 1778.) 

The peace commissioners themselves ended by add- 
ing fuel to the tiame of war. A second letter of theirs, 
Failure of ^^sking the authority of Congress for making 
the peace treaties, had been left unanswered (July 18). 
commission. Qq^^j-j^qj. johnstonc is Said then to have tried 
bribery with Joseph Reed, now in Congress. Congress, 
on being informed of the circumstances, refused to hold 
any further communication with him. Johnstone pub- 
lished a vindication of himself, but withdrew from the 
commission. The commissioners published a final 
address or manifesto (October 3) declaring that the 
conduct of the Americans would ' change the whole 
nature and future conduct of the war,' and threatening 
them with the ' extremes of war.' The declaration was 
strongly condemned in parliament by Coke of Norfolk, 
afterwards Lord Leicester, Burke, Rockingham, and the 
Bishop of Peterborough, but defended by Lord George 
Germain, Johnstone himself, and Lord Suffolk. That it 
was not intended as an idle threat was shown by the 
ravages already perpetrated by detachments from Clinton's 
army as well as by those of the Indians already mentioned. 
Between France and England the war was being carried 
T>, • on with varying fortunes. There had been an 

Ihe war in . . 

other quar- indccisivc action within sight of Brest (July 27), 
Paul Jones ;' between the French and English fleets,the latter 
Hyder Ah. u^ider Admiral Keppel, who was tried for mis- 
conduct by court-martial in the early part of the follow- 



1778. Second Period, 159 

ing year, but honourably acquitted. In the West Indies 
Dominica was taken by the French (September), St. Lucia 
by the English, D'Estaing being beaten off with loss (De- 
cember). The western coast of England was harried by 
Paul Jones, a Scotchman in the American service, who even 
burnt the shipping inWhitehaven. But in point of prizes the 
balance of profit on the war lay with England. More than 
two millions' worth had been taken by her cruisers by 
October 30. A camp established by the French in Nor- 
mandy came to nothing. In India, before even accurate 
tidings were received of the war with France, measures 
were taken for seizing all the French settlements. Pon- 
dicherry alone resisted for seventy days, the others sur- 
rendered without a blow. Bu the taking of Mahe was 
the occasion of a second war with Hyder Ali, the soldier 
of fortune who had possessed himself of the throne of 
Mysore, and who, with his son Tippoo, proved one of the 
most formidable foes ever met by the English in India. 
He had warned the English that he would invade the 
Carnatic if Mahe were attacked. He was as good as his 
word, and by the end of the year there was war with the 
Mahrattas. 

Let us now return to America. Mr. Bancroft heads 
one of the chapters in the last volume of his History of 
the United States with the title, 'A people 
without a government, August-December 1778.' imp()tency 
With keen knowledge of the character of his pf^^ongress; 

'^ _ It solicits 

people, Washington had written, two days after French 
learning of the French alliance, ' I very much '^^'^ action. 
fear that we, taking it for granted that we have nothing 
more to do, because France has acknowledged our inde- 
pendency and formed an alliance with us, shall relapse 
into a state df supineness and perfect security' (May 5, 
1778). Congress remained assiduously engaged in making 
paper money, without even being able to obtain the sole 



I 6o TJie War of American Independence, a.d, 

right of doing so from the several States, and issuing loan 
ceitiicates at six per cent, interest, without having the 
power to raise taxes to pay even the latter. Some of 
these certificates they succeeded in getting rid of by dis- 
charging in them their debts to the several States. A 
more brilliant idea was that of drawing on their commis- 
sioners in Paris, and this was actually done in the very 
month when the news of the French treaty was received, 
to the extent of 31,500,000 livres, or say 1,220,000/., the 
expectation being of course that the commissioners, who 
were provided with no means whatever of meeting the 
bills, would somehow beg the money from France. Con- 
gress turned to an English writer on finance, Dr. Price, 
offering him citizenship, and requesting him to regulate 
their finances ; he declined the invitation. And now these 
States, so punctilious as to the acknowledgment of their 
independence on the part of England, humbled them- 
selves to France so far as to instruct Frankhn (end of 
October) to assure the king that ' they hoped protection 
from his power and magnanimity,' the word ' protection' 
being divided against, but carried by a majority of eight 
States to two. There was no resource, it was admitted, 
but in ^ very considerable loans or subsidies in Europe, 
and whilst Franklin was pressing for a loan in France, 
Laurens was sent (December) to obtain one if possible 
from Holland. The disgraceful feature of the matter was, 
that as the war was confined to a few districts of the coast 
or frontier, the country generally was prospering, Virginia 
growing abundance of tobacco, and Massachusetts gather- 
ing wealth by trade. 

Whilst Washington was left too weak for offensive war- 
fare, Clinton also in New York remained not only without 
reinforcements, but with an empty chest, and was more- 
over directed to weaken himself by sending ten regiments 
to the West Indies, and an expedition to the south, so 



1779- 



Second Period. i6l 



that, without complaining, he had to beg that nothing 
might be '• expected^ of him. The expedition 

1 ^ , , . ... British ope- 

to the South was the most important mihtary rations in 
event of the year. The region was one where slf^ann^ah 
the Tories or loyahsts were most numerous, taken (De- 

. , , . . . _. . . . cember 29), 

Already two mcursions mto Georgia, consistmg and Georgia 
in great measure of such refugees, had taken ""^covered. 
place during the autumn from East Florida, whilst an 
attempt to retaliate upon St. Augustine failed. Towards 
the end of December a British fleet under Sir Peter 
Parker, bearing Colonel Campbell with 2,000 men, ap- 
peared before Savannah. General Howe, who com- 
manded on the American side, with 900 men under him, 
was completely defeated (December 29), losing 100 men 
killed and 453 prisoners, whilst the English lost only 24 
in killed and wounded. Savannah was occupied, and in 
the beginning of January 1779 Colonel Prevost, who com- 
manded in East Florida, marched through Lower Georgia 
to Savannah, subduing the country as he went, and 
though there was not such a general rising of loyalists 
as was expected, the whole province was practically 
recovered. 

The next attempt was on South Carolina ; but a party 
of loyalists from thence, on their way to rejoin the British 
army, were cut to pieces (February 14, 1779), 
only about 200 escaping to the British lines. Una invaded. 

The prisoners taken were afterwards tried for and Charies- 

^ ton threat- 

treason to South Carolina, 70 of them con- ened (May 

victed, and 5 hung. The American army was ^ ' 
not, however, successfully commanded by General Lin- 
coln, who had replaced Howe. A detachment of 1,500 
North Carolina mihtia, with a few Continentals under 
Colonel Aske, was signally defeated by Prevost at Briar 
Arch on the Savannah river, near Augusta (March 3); and 
only 450 men rejoined General Lincoln out of the whole 

M. H. M 



1 62 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

force. Colonel Prevost now pushed forward to Charleston 
(May ii), into which some hundreds of men had thrown 
themselves, under Moultrie, the Pole Pulaski, and others. 
Congress had recommended the arming of the slaves; 
but this was so distasteful to the council of the State that 
they sent to propose to the English its neutrality during 
the war. This was of course refused, and Prevost de- 
clined to treat with the civil government, demanding the 
surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war. But on 
the news of Lincoln's approach the English commander 
drew off, leaving a post at Stony Ferry, afterwards trans- 
feiTed to Beaufort. Soon, however, the ravages and plunder 
of the British troops in South Carolina went far to alienate 
the population, whilst the intense heat compelled both 
parties to give up active operations in the south till the 
autumn ; the Carolina militia went home, and Lincoln 
remained with only 800 men. 

The winter of 1778-9, owing to better supplies and 
better regulations, was less trying to the main army, 
Washing- encamped at Middlebrook, New Jersey, than 
durf ^"^th^ ^^^y ^^^ experienced, although it still required 
winter of Washington's ' constant presence and atten- 
fensive ^* tion,' and ' some degree of care and address, to 
campaign, keep it from crumbling' (Dec. 12, 1778). But 
an overweening confidence had now replaced despondency. 
Everything was expected from the support of the French. 
The British were still at New York, and Washington had 
great trouble to hinder Congress from attempting to con- 
quer Canada with the aid of France. It is a remarkable 
instance of the combination in him of statesmanship with 
militaiy skill, that although the scheme had originated 
with his intimate friend La Fayette, he at once discounte- 
nanced it on the ground of the ' true and permanent in- 
terests' of his country, lest France should recover Canada? 
and ' have it in her power to give law to these States ; ' 



1779- Second Period. 163 

and this although he was ' thoroughly convinced of the 
expediency and policy of doing everything practicable ' on 
the part of the Americans, 'even for accomplishing the an- 
nexation of Canada to the Union.' There was great delay 
in the necessary recruiting. A great part of the officers, 
Washington wrote, were, 'from absolute necessity,' quitting 
the service, the ' virtuous few ' who remained ' sinking by 
sure degrees into beggary and want,' so that ' the dissolu- 
tion of the army ' was again ' not an improbable event, if 
the situation of the officers were not improved' (Jan. 20, 
1779). After a month's consultation with the commander- 
in-chief. Congress decided that the state of the currency 
and supplies would oblige them to act on the defensive 
during the campaign of 1779, except as related to the 
chastising of the Indians (April 1779). A defensive cam- 
paign is not the one to attract recruits, and by May 8 the 
army was ' little more than the skeleton of an army,' and 
the New Jersey brigade could with difficulty be restrained 
from abandoning the service, owing to arrears of pay. 
Clinton, whose forces, though weakened by the expedition 
to the south, were rather more numerous than Washing- 
ton's, harried the country with marauding parties. Ter- 
rible ravages were committed in Virginia, on the Chesa- 
peake, where, besides captures, over 130 vessels and 
500,000/. worth of property were destroyed (May). Sail- 
ing up the Hudson, Clinton compelled the evacuation or 
surrender of Stony Point and Verplanck Point, posts 
fortified by Washington to protect the crossing at King's 
Ferry, the chief channel of communication between the 
eastern and middle States and West Point, where the 
Americans had their chief magazines and stores (June i, 
1779)- General Tryon, the former governor of New York, 
ravaged the coast of Connecticut, plundering or burning 
New Haven and other towns. He was, however, recalled, 
owing to the recovery of Stony Point by General Wayne 



164 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

(July 15), who destroyed it. Another fort opposite New 
York was taken a month later still (August 19). 

During the summer (August and September) a terrible 
revenge was taken on the Iroquois for the Wyoming 
General massacres by General Sullivan, who with 5,000 
Sullivan men devastated their whole country between 

ciGV3.St3.tCS 

the Iroquois the Susquehannahand Genesee rivers — covered, 
country. ^^ ^^^ \.o\di, with ' pleasant villages and luxu- 
riant corn fields' — burning every village, and giving no 
quarter. At one village, which is termed the ' metropolis 
of Genesee valley,' no less than 160,000 bushels of corn 
were destroyed. The Indians were pursued as far as the 
British fort of Niagara, and Indian agriculture was de- 
stroyed throughout the district. The total American loss 
did not exceed forty men. The responsibility for these 
cruel measures lies at Washington's own door. His in- 
structions to General Sullivan (May 31) were, 'that the 
country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.' 

On the other hand General Maclean, who commanded 
the British forces in Nova Scotia, in order to check 
The British American incursions into that province, estab- 
in Penobscot lished a post of 6oo men in Penobscot Bay, in 
what is now the State of Maine, but which then 
belonged to Massachusetts (June 1779). To dislodge 
them Massachusetts sent out the largest American arma- 
ment that had yet sailed; nineteen armed ships with 300 
guns, besides twenty-four transports, and nearly 1,000— 
other accounts say 3,000 — men. The affair was a signal 
failure, which the arrival of Sir George Collier with a 
64-gun ship and five frigates turned into a disaster. Two 
vessels were taken, the rest burned by the Americans 
themselves, the troops and crews fell to blows, many 
perished in the woods, and the country east of the Penob- 
scot became British territory (July- August). 

If the American Congress failed to show itself great 



1779- 



Second Period. 165 



in pushing on the war, it was much occupied with settHng 
the conditions of the future peace, at first with Congress 
France only, afterwards with Spain, when, , as peacrcom- 
we shall presently see, she joined the Franco- missioners. 
American alliance. Both powers, jealous of the future ex- 
tension of the republic, wished to shut her out from the 
region north-west of the Ohio, and from the Newfoundland 
fisheries, while Spain wanted to exclude her from the 
navigation of the Mississippi. It would be tedious to 
dwell on the negotiations ; suffice it to say that on Sep- 
tember 27 peace commissioners were appointed — John 
Adams for France, Jay for Spain, Yet a period nearly as 
long as that which had elapsed since the beginning of the 
war was to pass away before peace should be concluded. 

There is very httle to notice in Europe during the 
early months of 1779. No European war was ever more 
uneventful than was thus far the war between ^j^^ ^^ -^ 
England and France. The violent storm Europe un- 
which ushered in the year 1779; the eighty- 
four days' frost which followed the storm ; the personal 
quarrel between Admiral Keppel and his second in com- 
mand, Palliser, the successive courts-martial on both, the 
riots on Keppel's acquittal ; occupied England till the 
end of February far more than the war itself. There was 
indeed an inquiry by the House of Commons into the 
proceedings in America and the conduct of the war ; but 
the only result was to expose Howe's blunders, and on the 
other hand to whitewash Burgoyne. In Ireland volunteer 
associations were formed to replace the troops sent to 
America ; and the demands which they made for redress 
of grievances began to excite apprehension. 

Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann (Feb. 
25), ' The backwardness of Spain has saved Spain's 
us.' But the time was approaching when nesSn^going 
she was to be drawn into the struggle. Her to war. 
position and conduct deserve now to be considered. 



1 66 The War of American htdependence. a.d. 

France had little to lose, in the way of territory at least, 
and everything to gain in a war with a power like Eng- 
,,r. land, already in conflict with America. It was 

war conven- ' -' _ 

tion between otherwise with Spain. A sure instinct told her 
Spahif April that shc had everything to lose by American 
12, 1779- independence; and that her vast American em- 
pire must sooner or later follow the fate of that of England. 
When, in January 1778, Montmorin the French ambas- 
sador read to the Spanish minister Florida Blanca a de- 
spatch announcing the determination of France to support 
America, it is said that the Spaniard * quivered in every 
limb, and could hardly utter a reply.' For months Spain 
continued to reproach France with engaging in the war. 
But the possession by England of Gibraltar and Minorca 
was a dbuble thorn in the side of Spain, and a war with 
England might enable her to recover them. In the spring 
of 1778 battering trains were already being collected at 
Seville, and in the Bay of Cadiz a greater fleet was gathered 
than any which had issued from Spain since the Armada. 
For another twelvemonth, however, Spain negotiated on 
all sides, half-sincerely, half-dishonestly, pressing her me- 
diation on England, endeavouring in treating with France 
to cripple the United States in the future, and exact- 
ing from both France and America impossible conditions 
as the price of her co-operation. At last (April 12, 1779), 
a convention was signed between France and Spain, by 
which France undertook to invade Great Britain or Ireland, 
this invasion being regarded by Spain as the only means of 
recovering Gibraltar. If Newfoundland were recovered, 
France was to share its fisheries with Spain alone. She 
was further bound to use every eflbrt to recover for Spain 
Minorca, Pensacola, Mobile, the Bay of Honduras, the 
coast of Campeachy, and to grant neither peace, truce, 
nor suspension of hostilities till Gibraltar was restored. 
Spain was moreover to be free to require from the United 



1779. Second Period. 167 

States a renunciation of the whole basin of the St. Law- 
rence and the lakes, the navigation of the Mississippi, and 
all the country between that river and the Alleghanies. 

Even if the vast region in question had remained un- 
occupied, it would have been folly for America to accept 
terms which would have wholly crippled her The north- 
future development. But it was too late to pro- '^estern ter- 

^ '■ ntory covet- 

pose them. America had been growmg as well ed by Spain, 
as fighting. The 'county' of Kentucky had by'tKack? 
been incorporated by the Virginia legislature as woodsmen, 
early as December 1776, George Rogers Clark being one 
of its first representatives. With the approval of Jeffer- 
son and others, Clark set out in June 1779 for the con- 
quest of the country north-west of the Ohio, surprised 
Kaskaskia, occupied the whole Illinois region, and after 
some alternations of fortune, compelled the British lieu- 
tenant-governor with a handful of men to surrender at 
Vincennes (February 24, 1779). Further to the south, 
the Cherokees and other tribes south of the Ohio having 
invaded the western American firontier from Georgia to 
Pennsylvania, were crushed, their towns burnt, their 
fields wasted, their cattle driven away (April 1779). 
During the whole of the year emigration flowed over 
the mountains ; the Cumberland River country, in what 
is now Tennessee, was occupied. Further south yet, 
Natchez had already been occupied by a detachment 
which had descended the Ohio and Mississippi. Thus 
the eastern half of the Mississippi basin was virtually in 
the hands of the United States at the time when Spain 
proposed to exclude them from it. 

The convention between France and Spain was at first 
kept secret, and it was not till June 16, 1779, that war 
was actually declared between England and Spain. 
Such a provocation only roused the spirit of king and 
people in England. The House of Commons pledged 



1 68 The War of American Independejtce. a.d. 

to the crown the support of the nation, Burke and Fox 
joining with the Tories. Fifty thousand mihtia were 
England enrolled, in addition to 50,000 troops. The 
ready for funds fell onlv One per cent. But there was a 

war with , ■' ^ ^ 

Spain, but growing impatience of the war with America. 
thaTwith ° Motions against it in different forms, by Lord 
Th'^'k^'^^c^' John Cavendish in the Commons, and by the 
obstinacy. Duke of Richmond in the Lords, received in- 
creased support. The king alone was obdurate. In his 
strange style, he admitted now that no man could allege 
that ' the laying of a tax was deserving all the evils that 
have arisen from it ... . without being thought more fit 
for Bedlam than a seat in the senate.' But every man 
' not willing to sacrifice every object to a momentary and 
inglorious peace,' must concur with him in thinking that 
England could ' never submit to ' American independence. 
He did not yet despair that, with Clinton's activity and 
the Indians in their rear, the provinces would soon submit. 
Before he would ' hear of any man's readiness to take 
office ' he should ' expect to see it signed under his own 
hand, that he is resolved to keep the empire entire, and 
that no troops shall consequently be withdrawn from 
thence, nor independence ever allowed ' (June 21-22). So 
he prepared to face at once France, Spain, and America, 
and would only find fault with his admirals for over- 
caution. 

Three weeks after the declaration of war, Spain, flying 
at once at her most coveted prey, commenced the siege 
of Gibraltar (July 8). She was pressing France 
Gibraltar; to invade England. Sixty transport vessels of 
HnecTfieets i6,ooo tons burthen were engaged for the 
in the Chan- purposc. The Spanish fleet was tardier than 

ncl. 

the French, but a junction was at last effected 
off the coast of Spain, and — bitter sight for English pride 
— the combined fleet, consisting of nearly seventy ships 



1779- 



Second Period. 1 69 



of the line, cruised up and down the Channel, the English 
fleet of thirty-eight sail not being strong enough to 
attack it (August). It showed itself off Plymouth, 
picked up merchantmen, and even a blundering English 
man-of-war which fancied that it was rallying to its 
own flag. But it did nothing more. The French and 
Spanish commanders fell out ; dysentery raged in their 
fleets ; they withdrew to Brest and then separated. The 
Spanish admiral was ready to give his parole never more 
to serve against England, but was willing to serve against 
France. Fever and dysentery ravaged also the French 
camps in Brittany and Normandy, and the queen, Marie 
Antoinette, wrote to her mother that the doing of nothing 
at all had cost France a great deal of money. 

There was more serious work in the North Sea, where 
Paul Jones, in the 'Bonhomme Richard' of forty guns, 
with two frigates of 36 and 32 and a brig of 1 2 Paul Jones's 
guns (one frigate and the brig being French), ^Itt scak of 
endeavoured to intercept the English Baltic t^^ ^^'^'^• 
fleet, under the convoy of the ' Serapis' of 40, commanded 
by Captain Pearson, and the ' Countess of Scarborough,' 
of 20. The fight was desperate. The ' Serapis ' was set 
on fire, but silenced the ' Bonhomme Richard's' guns,when 
the frigate ' Alliance,' one of her consorts, came up, and 
by her cross-fire compelled the ' Serapis ' to strike her flag, 
as did also her consort. The ' Bonhomme Richard,' which 
had had 300 out of 375 men killed or wounded, foundered 
the next day, but Paul Jones took off his prizes to 
Holland (September 1779). When we add that in the 
West Indies two islands were lost to the French, that the 
Spaniards invaded Florida, and eventually reduced all the 
English settlements on the Mississippi, that British log- 
cutters on the coast of Honduras were attacked, and a 
fort taken and retaken ; that on the coast of Africa Senegal 
was taken by the French, and Goree by the English, an 



I/O The War of American Independence, a.d. 

idea will be conceived of the vast scale on which hostilities 
were carried on. We must also remember that in India a 
Mahratta war was proceeding, and the most formidable 
league being formed which the English had yet had to 
encounter, — one between Hyder Ali, the Mahrattas, and 
the Nizam, in whose service were able French officers. 

Let us now return to the Southern United States, which 
were now the chief focus of the war. On September i, 
Failure of 17795 the French Admiral d'Estaing appeared 
and AmT-^ from the West Indies off the coast of Georgia, 
ricans before with thirty-three vessels, surprising four English 
October 9^ ships of war. By the loth the French troops 
^779- had landed before Savannah, but they were not 

enough to invest the town, and it was not till the 23rd that 
General Lincoln was able to join them. In the meanwhile 
the garrison of Beaufort had succeeded in reaching Sa- 
vannah across the swamps. The French fleet dreaded the 
autumnal gales, and after cannonading the town for five 
days (October 4-9), an assault was decided on. It failed 
disastrously. The French and Americans lost at least 800 
men — inflicting very slight loss in return. D'Estaing was 
wounded twice, and the gallant Pole, Pulaski, was mortally 
wounded (October 1-9). D'Estaing refused to renew the 
attack, and drew off with his fleet and troops. Lincoln 
withdrew to Charleston with the remnant of his army, and 
the South Carolina mihtia went home. A somewhat 
ludicrous success which the Americans gained in the 
partisan warfare which was being waged in Georgia may 
be considered worthy of mention. The scene of the in- 
cident was the Ogechee river, where Captain French was 
posted with one hundred men and a squadron of five 
vessels, four of which were armed. Colonel White, of the 
Georgia line, with one officer and four men, by kindling 
fires in different places along the bank and laying out a 
large encampment, led Captain French to suppose that 



1779 -So- Second Period. 171 

he was at the head of a large force, and by this means 
actually obtained the surrender of the entire squadron. 
This feat certainly rivals that of the Irishman who related 
that he captured three prisoners single-handed ' by sur- 
rounding them.' 

In order to push on the war more vigorously in the 
south, Rhode Island was now evacuated (October 1779), and 
the troops from thence joined Sir H. Clinton's Rho^e 
army in New York, which had itself received island eva- 
some reinforcements from Europe. Leaving the British ; 
General Kniphausen in command in New York, [ikenTMay 
Clinton embarked 8,500 men (December 26), 12, 1780), 

c -r X. ■ n • 1 r j ^"^ South 

for Tybee m Georgia, as a place of rendezvous Carolina 
for an attack on Charleston. Bad sailing, bad s"'^<^"^'^- 
weather, and privateers hindered or damaged the expe- 
dition. Nothing was ready before the end of Januar}', nor 
did the British troops come in sight of Charleston before 
February 26. But Lincoln, drawing all disposable forces 
into the town — a course of conduct of which Washington 
'dreaded the event' — allowed himself to be caught as in 
a trap. The town was untenable, the inhabitants were 
disaffected almost to a man. On May 12 he capitulated, 
suiTendering 4 frigates, 400 pieces of artillery, and a large 
number of prisoners, the militia being allowed to return 
home on parole. Clinton went back to New York, leaving 
5,000 men with Lord Cornwallis, who was invested with 
a separate command, besides 1,000 men in Georgia. By 
the end of June 1780 Lord Cornwallis reported that all 
resistance was at an end in Georgia. But the severe 
measures taken by the British commanders, including a 
proclamation which required all the inhabitants to give 
actual assistance to the royal cause, as well as frequent 
confiscations, especially of slaves, alienated the people 
more and more. 

The winter of 1779-80, strange to say, was worse for 



1/2 The War of American I 7idependence. a.d. 

the main army under Washington than the previous one. 
The winter itself was early and unusually rigorous. The 
Americans were more and more disposed to throw the bur- 
then of the war on their allies. Gerard, the French minister 
Another ^^ America, did not fear to express to his own 
gloomy court his regret that Spain should have joined 

winter for . , .... 

Washington, m the war, smce ' just m proportion as acces- 
1779-80. sions to the means of opposing the enemv were 

bupineness i r- o ^ ^ 

oftheAme- afforded by foreign powers, the Americans 
became inactive and backward in their own 
efforts' (September 10, 1779). The revolution seemed 
bankrupt. There were 200 millions of paper dollars in 
circulation, but forty paper dollars were worth only one in 
specie ; a pair of boots cost 600 dollars. In the early part 
of January the troops, both officers and men, were for a 
fortnight almost perishing for want of bread and meat, the 
whole time with a very scanty allowance of either, and 
frequently destitute of both.' The men began to plunder 
on their own account, and a scheme by which the several 
States were to furnish specific quantities of certain supplies, 
to be repaid by Congress, utterly broke down. Washington 
had again to seize provisions for them. A kind of strike 
was threatened by a number of officers, who declared that 
they must resign by a given day unless they could be better 
provided for. Washington wrote (April 3, 1780), 'There 
never has been a stage of the war in which the dissatisfac- 
tion has been so general or alarming.' A committee of 
Congress reported that the army was unpaid for five 
months, that it seldom had more than six days' provisions 
in advance, and was on several occasions tor successive 
days without meat ; that every department of the army was 
without money, and had not even the shadow of credit left ; 
and that the patience of the soldiers was on the point of 
being exhausted. A mutiny in the Connecticut regiments 
was only with difficulty suppressed. In the first week in 



1780. Second Period, 1 73 

June Washington had only 3,760 men fit for duty. Not a 
recruit could be obtained for six months for less than 100 
hard dollars. La Fayette indeed, who had returned to 
France to obtain further aid, came back in April, an- 
nouncing the speedy arrival of a French fleet with troops, 
in two divisions. When in July the first division of 
6,000 men under Count de Rochambeau came into New- 
port harbour, Rhode Island, Washington had neither 
men nor supplies to co-operate with them. The second 
division never appeared, being blockaded in Brest, and 
a new British fleet ere long blockaded the first in New- 
port. At a time when Washington was empowered by 
Congress to carry on his operations beyond the limits 
of the United States, so as to act in concert with the 
French and Spanish in the West Indies, he was reduced 
' to the painful alternative either of dismissing a part 
of the militia now assembling ... or letting them 
come forward to starve.' On January i following, one 
half of his present forces would dissolve, and ' the 
shadow of an army that would remain would have every 
motive, except mere patriotism, to abandon the service.' 
If 'either the temper or the resources of the country' 
would not admit of an alteration, they might ' expect 
soon to be reduced to the humiliating condition of seeing 
the cause of America, in America, upheld by foreign 
arms.' If 'something satisfactory' were not done, ' the 
army (already so much reduced in officers by daily 
resignations as not to have a sufficiency to do the 
common duties of it) must either cease to exist at the 
end of a campaign,' or would 'exhibit an example of 
more virtue, fortitude, self-denial, and perseverance' than 
had ' perhaps ever yet been paralleled in the history 
of human enthusiasm.' Nothing on the other hand was 
done on the English side beyond an incursion into New 
Jersey. 



1/4 ^^^^ War of American Independence. a.d. 

It was on the seas that the war was now the most 
active. A great seaman had appeared on the 
sea ; Enghsh Side. When the war with France 

Rodney. broke out in 1778 Admiral Rodney was in 
Paris. He wished to return to England, but his creditors 
would not let him go. Those were, however, the days 
when war had its chivalry. An old French marshal, De 
Biron, lent him 1,000 louis to free himself. He placed 
his services at the disposal of the Admiralty, but his poli- 
tics were not those of the ministry; for a twelvemonth he 
could get no employment. At last (October i, 1779) he 
was appointed commander-in-chief on the Leeward 
Islands and Barbadoes station, but with instructions in 
the first instance to relieve Gibraltar. He put to sea three 
days before the New Year, one of the king's sons, after- 
wards King WilHam IV., serving on board his fleet as 
midshipman. On January 8 he took a Spanish merchant 
fleet of 15 sail, with 7 vessels of war. On the i6th, off 
Cape St. Vincent, he defeated the Spanish admiral 
Langara, taking or destroying 7 out of 11 ships of the 
line, then relieved successively Gibraltar and Minorca, 
and sailed for the West Indies. Here his success was 
for the time less brilhant. He engaged the French fleet 
under Count de Guichen more than once (April and 
May), but some of his officers failed to support him suf- 
ficiently, and the actions were indecisive, nor did he 
succeed in preventing the junction of the French and 
Spanish fleets (June). But nothing came of this junction. 
Again the two admirals disagreed; again disease broke 
out in the fleets; again they separated, the Spanish 
ships returning to Havana, the French to France. Rodney 
sailed for the coast of North America to co-operate with 
Sir Henry Clinton. 

An abortive and insane operation of the years 1779-80 
on the British side deserves to be mentioned for the sake 



lySo. Second Period. 175 

of the post-captain who led it. A party of troops was sent 
to cross Central America by the river San 
Juan and the lakes Nicaragua and Leon into Ce^ntmi^'^ 
the Pacific, on board the ' Hinchinbroke.' t^"^^"*^^; 

' _ J^ngland s 

The mission of Post-Captain Nelson ended quarrel with 
at the San Juan River ; but as there was no 
one capable of directing the expedition, he went up the 
river and took 12 forts, but was beaten back by the deadly 
climate, scarcely 300 men out of 1,800 surviving to return, 
and his own health being for the time wholly shattered. 
Meanwhile another belligerent was being dragged into 
the fray. Of all the neutral powers, Holland — or, to speak 
more correctly, the Netherlands — was the one whose 
trade was the most extensive, and which consequently 
profited most through the war, on the one hand by the 
opening of the American ports to trade, on the other by 
fetching and carrying for the belligerents. England had 
early sought to engage Holland in the war on her side, 
on the plea of old treaty engagements, which the Dutch 
did not admit to be applicable. The English claim of a 
right to search neutral vessels for the enemy's goods, and 
the wide interpretation she gave to the term ' naval stores ' 
viewed as contraband of war, pressed hardly on Dutch 
trade. On the other hand the shelter given in Dutch 
ports to Paul Jones and to his prizes was made a ground 
of bitter complaint by the English. In spite of these 
complaints, he was allowed to leave the Texel with his 
prizes (December 27). Four days later a Dutch merchant 
fleet, proceeding to Brest under the convoy of five Dutch 
ships of war, was stopped in the Channel by an Enghsh 
squadron under Captain P^ielding, who claimed to search 
the traders. This was refused, and a shallop sent for 
the purpose was fired upon. Hereupon the English fired 
into the flagship, which, after returning a broadside, 
struck her colours, and those of the merchantmen that 



176 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

failed to escape were taken into Portsmouth, A few 
months later the existing freedom of trade between 
England and Holland was temporarily suspended, but 
it was not till nearly the end of the year that war was 
actually declared. 

The capture of the Dutch fleet, however, together with 
that of two Russian merchantmen by Spain, helped on a 
The armed mcasure to which Frederick of Prussia had for 
neutrality, somc time been urging the Empress of Russia, 
and which, though nominally directed against all the bel- 
ligerents, told especially against England, viz. the forma- 
tion of the * armed neutrality.' On March 8 Russia issued 
a declaration, laying down certain principles (some of 
which, though not all, have been in our days acceded to 
by England herself), viz. the free navigation of neutral 
ships, even from port to port on a belligerent coast; 
freedom of all goods on free ships, contraband of war only 
excepted; limitation of contraband of war to arms and 
ammunition; effectual blockades. To maintain these 
principles the empress armed her fleets, and invited 
Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and the Netherlands to join 
with her. Before any of the four states so invited had 
replied to the invitation, two of the belligerents, Spain 
and France, had eagerly accepted the principles of the 
declaration (April 1780), in doing which they were fol- 
lowed by Prussia. Thus encouraged, Denmark and 
Sweden entered into treaties for mutual support with 
Russia. Before the end of the year the Emperor came 
in, the United States having also accepted the principles 
of the Russian declaration in October. 

In England itself some singular events had occurred. 
During the recess two of the ministers, Lords Weymouth 
and Gower, resigned, the latter, at least, on account of 
disagreement with his colleagues on the American ques- 
tion, and Lord North was always pressing for leave to 



lySo. Second Period. 177 

follow their example. Overtures were made, but in vain, 



Ireland ; the 



to Lords Camden and Shelburne to join the 
ministry. Parliament met on November 25. Vo/kshire 
The state of Ireland was beginning to cause £e"FVo"c?-' 
great disquiet ; 60,000 volunteers were in arms. tantAssoda- 

.,,. -11, • tion and 

Perfect tranquillity prevailed ; but non-impor- Lord cieorge 
tation agreements against England had been ^°''<^°"- 
entered into, and an address of the Irish parliament to 
the crown for freedom of trade and other matters had 
been carried, and had been followed by a vote of sup- 
ply limited to six months (November 15). The king's 
speech did not mention America, but congratulated the 
country on the failure of the French and Spanish attempt 
at invasion, and called attention to the state of Ireland. 
Lord North admitted that the policy hitherto pursued 
towards Ireland had been misjudged, and his speech 
foreshadowed further concessions, beyond some trifling 
ones granted in the last two sessions, both to Irish trade 
generally and to Roman Catholics as such. The ap- 
prehensions of the anti-Romish party seem to have been 
violently excited by this course of conduct. On the other 
hand the classes which till now had supported the 
ministry were getting tired of the war. On December 30, 
at a meeting of 600 gentlemen whose collective fortune 
was said to be larger than that of the whole House of 
Commons, a committee of sixty-one members, known as 
the Yorkshire Committee, was appointed by the county 
of York to petition parliament and form an association 
for financial and parliamentary reform. Corresponding 
committees were formed in other counties and cities, 
including the city of London. Side by side with 
these were formed other associations, in Scotland as 
well as in England, against further concessions to the 
Romg.n Catholics. The two movements seem not to 
have been clearly distinguished by outsiders, and may 
M. H. N 



178 TJic War of American Independence. a.d. 

indeed often have run into one. Thus it is difficult from 
Walpole's letters of January and February 1780 to 
discern whether, in speaking of associations and ' orders 
under the title of petitions/ he means those of the financial 
and parliamentary reformers, or of the anti-popery men. 
At any rate the associations of the latter were organized 
into one as the ' Protestant Association.' Its president 
was Lord George Gordon, a half-crazy M.P., who, obtaining 
an interview from the king towards the end of January, 
read to him for an hour out of a pamphlet he had written, 
and when it became too dark, left only on a promise that 
the king would finish reading it himself. In the early 
days of February there w'ere already anti-popery riots 
in Scotland. 

By February 6 petitions had come in from over twenty 
counties, besides several towns. On the 8th Burke pre- 
Burke's plan rented a plan for economic reform, to include 
of Economic a diminution of the influence of the crown. 
Dunning's On March 13 he defeated the ministry. 
resolution, q^ ^pj.j| 5 Dunning brought forward in 

committee a celebrated resolution, ' that it is the 
opinion of this committee that the influence of the 
crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be 
diminished,' and to the surprise of everybody, carried it 
by a majority of 48, whilst another resolution as to 
the competency of the House of Commons to correct 
abuses in the civil list passed also. But ministers, instead 
of throwing up office, obtained an adjournment of the 
House, and by April 24, when it met again, its temper 
had changed. A new motion of Dunning's, against pro- 
rogation or dissolution until the demands of the peti- 
tioners were satisfied, was rejected by 254 to 203. 

The parliamentary warfare went on with diminishing 
excitement, when suddenly the strangest event of the 
century enforced a temporary truce of parties, namely, 



1780. Second Period. 179 

the London No-popcry or Lord George Gordon riots, last- 
ing from Friday, June 2, to Thursday, June 8, The London 
until the last two days of which time London ^o-popery 

. , riots, June 

Avas left Virtually without resistance in the hands 2-8, 1780. 
of the mob, which destroyed chapels and houses at their 
will, stormed Newgate, attacked the Bank, though 
without taking any lives, and were at last put down 
only by a large force of soldiers and militia, with terrible 
slaughter ; 285 civilians were killed or died of their 
wounds, and 173 were taken, seriously wounded, to the 
hospitals, besides those that perished in the flames of the 
numerous fires or were carried home to their friends. 
The total loss of property was said to be 180,000/. The 
next day Lord George Gordon was committed to the 
Tower on a charge of treason. Similar riots were being 
attempted in Bath, Bristol, and Hull, but were checked 
everywhere by the magistrates. On the 19th parliament 
met, after having adjourned in consequence of the riots. 
Resolutions were passed refusing to repeal the act for the 
relief of Roman Cathohcs. On July 6 those of the rioters 
Avho had been arrested were brought to trial. ' They are,' 
Avrote Walpole, ' apprentices, women, a black girl, and 
two or three escaped convicts. And these Catilines, with- 
out plan, plot, connection, or object, threw a million of 
inhabitants into consternation, burned their houses about 
their ears, besieged the parliament, drove it to adjourn 
for ten days, and have saddled the capital with 10,000 
men.' Out of those that were tried sixty were found 
guilty ; forty were sentenced to death, and twenty of 
them executed ; the rest were transported. Lord George 
Gordon, however, who was tried in the early part of the 
following year, was acquitted. He eventually became a 
Jew, and died of gaol fever whilst in prison for libel. 
The No-popery riots, occurring as they did in the midst 



1 80 TJie War of A incrican Independence, a. d. 

of a war with three enemies at once, whilst a fourth was 
Spanish ne- being provoked into hostiHty, and ahiiost all the 
Sopped by remainder of the European powers were arming, 
the riots. virtually against England, on the plea of neu- 
trality, show how comparatively indifferent that war really 
v/as to a large body of the English people. Yet the riots 
helped to prolong it. Spain had no sooner got into 
the war than she was anxious to get out of it. She had 
been negotiating since November 1779. If she could 
only recover Gibraltar, she was ready to cede Porto 
Rico and Oran, to pay a large sum of money, and pledge 
herself not to help France. But the No-popery riots 
raised the angriest feelings both in the Spanish king 
and people, and peace was further off again. 

In America the South continued throughout the year 

1780 to be the chief, if not the only seat of active 

warfare. In South Carolina, as has been 

South Caro- Stated, resistance was at an end. But refugees 

Una; battle f^-Q^i that State in North Carolina, who had 

01 Camden ' 

(Aueust 16, formed themselves into a partisan band under 
''' Colonel Sumpter, previously in command of a 

continental regiment, began with some success a guerrilla 
warfare, A surprise by him of a British post at Hang- 
ing Rock (August 6) may be noticed, on account of the 
presence in his ranks of a boy of thirteen, who was to be 
one of the most remarkable presidents of the United 
States, — Andrew Jackson. Meanwhile forces were being 
sent from the north, Washington detaching De Kalb with 
nearly 3,000 men, Virginia sending militiamen and arms, 
till at last General Gates, who was placed in the indepen- 
dent command of the forces, found himself at the head of 
a ' grand army,' as he termed it, which outnumbered the 
British. He met Lords Cornwallis and Rawdon at 
Camden. The. day was disastrous to the Americans. 
The Virginia militia threw down their aj:ms and made 



1780. Second Period. iSi 

for the woods ' with such speed that not more than 
three of them were kiUed or wounded.' The North 
Carohna mihtia, a few excepted, did the same, so that 
* nearly two-thirds of the army fled without firing a shot. 
Only Washington's Maryland and Delaware troops held 
their ground, and De Kalb's division in particular had the 
advantage till the last. The American loss, according to 
British accounts, was 2,000 in killed, wounded, and 
prisoners. The whole of the artillery (eight field-pieces) 
was taken, and almost all the baggage. The whole army 
was dispersed, all but one hundred continentals, who 
were led off through the swamps. De Kalb had been 
mortally wounded, and died after three days. The 
Americans, General Gates foremost, fled as far as 
Charlotte, North Carolina, and Gates himself pushed on 
to Hillsborough, where the North Carolina legislature 
was about to meet, riding more than 200 miles in three 
days and a half. There now remained only Sumpter, 
who had been detached before the battle with 800 men 
to cut off a British convoy, and had succeeded in his 
errand. He was in turn surprised by Colonel Tarleton, 
who, with one hundred dragoons and sixty light infantry, 
cut his corps to pieces, taking two or three hundred 
prisoners, killing or wounding 150, and recovering all 
the captures. Four days after the battle of Camden, 
Sumpter rode into Charlotte alone, bareheaded, on a 
horse barebacked. 

But the tide was now on the turn. Lord Cornwalhs's 
severities once more irritated the people. Par- comwaiiiss 
tisan bands under Tames Williams, Marion, march into 

, , -A , r North Caro- 

and ere long again Sumpter, kept up a warfare Una checked. 
of surprises. Through Marion's influence, ac- p^^fs^n" 
cording to Lord Cornwallis himself, there was Greene in 

, .... , 1 T-v 1 1 command. 

scarcely an mhabitant between the Pedee and 

the Santee, who was not in arms against the British, and 



1 82 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

almost the whole country seemed on the eve of a revolt* 
Lord Cornwallis nevertheless began in September his 
march into North Carolina, hoping for aid from the 
loyalists there. Detaching Major Ferguson to the high- 
land country, he pressed on to Charlotte, and from thence 
towards Salisbury. But on his way the tidings reached 
him of a serious reverse which had befallen Major Fer- 
guson. With a force of 1,125 nien, of whom 125 only 
were regulars, he had been attacked at King's Mountain, 
by one of Virginians and North Carolinians, defeated,, 
himself killed, and the whole force obliged to surrender, 
648 being made prisoners, besides 456 killed and 
wounded (October 7). Cornwallis now fell back into 
South Carolina, harassed on his way by the militia 
and by the peasantry, whilst Marion and Sumpter were 
intercepting supplies and surprising posts. At Black- 
stock Sumpter won from Tarleton a return match. Re- 
lying on previous successes, before his light infantr}^ 
could come up, he dashed with 250 horsemen up a hill- 
side at Sumpter's superior force. This time the Ameri- 
cans held their own. The English 63rd lost its com-, 
manding officer and two lieutenants, with one third of its 
privates, and Tarleton had to retreat, leaving his wounded 
behind. But Sumpter himself was severely wounded 
(November 20). Of far more consequence than any par- 
tisan success to the American cause was the appointment 
of Greene in place of Gates to the command of the forces 
south of the Delaware, but this time 'subject to the 
control of the commander-in-chief (October 30). Wash- 
ington had originally recommended him for the post 
v.hen Gates was appointed, and there seems reason to 
think that he was Washington's favourite officer. None 
certainly ever showed more of his great commanders 
spirit. 

In the north but little was doing. Incursions had 



1 7 So. Scco7id Period. 1 83 

iDcen made into New York from Canada, two American 
forts had been taken, much grain destroyed, and j j^^j^ ^^^^„ 
British parties had pushed on almost to Sara- i" the north. 
toga. Some correspondence was also going on, much to 
Washington's anxiety, between the leaders in Vermont, 
which Congress still refused to acknowledge as separate 
from New York, and the British authorities. Otherwise 
Washington and Clinton continued watching each other, 
each too weak, or deeming himself so, for successful 
offensive warfare. But a new danger now threatened the 
American cause. 

There was no braver soldier in the American ranks 
than Benedict Arnold, the hero of the Canadian cam- 
paign, the real victor at Stillwater. Placed in Arnold's 
command at Philadelphia after the evacuation treason, 
of the city by the British, he irritated the ' ^^ °' 
people by an overbearing manner and various arbitrary 
proceedings, gave way to extravagance, sank into debt, 
involved himself still further through disastrous specu- 
lations, and resorted, it is said, to fraud and peculation. 
Charges were brought against him by the Executive 
Council of Pennsylvania, and laid before Congress. A 
committee, appointed to report on the case, acquitted him 
except as to two charges, but four were eventually sent 
on to the commander-in-chief, and on these Arnold was 
tried by court-martial (Dec. 4, 1779-Jan. 26, 1780). On 
two he was acquitted, but he was found guilty of having 
illegally granted a passport to a vessel, and of having 
used some public waggons for private purposes. By order 
of the court he was publicly reprimanded by Washing- 
ton. Whilst his trial was proceeding, his accounts 
during his Canada command were also passing through 
committee in Congress. These were found confused 
and irregular, and large deductions were reported. 
Deeming himself ill-used, he appealed in vain against the 



1S4 The War of Amcricaji Independence, a.d. 

decision. Mortification and chagrin turned him into a 
traitor. He began writing anonymously to Sir Henry 
CHnton. Eighteen months later, having obtained the 
command at West Point, the most important post of any 
on the American side, he offered to Sir Henry to hand 
over to the British both West Point and other posts 
in the highlands. Whilst Washington had gone to 
Hartford to meet the French commander. Major Andre, 
adjutant-general of the British army, was sent up the 
Hudson in the 'Vulture' sloop of war to confer with Arnold. 
Terms were settled ; Arnold was to receive 10,000/. and 
a brigadier-generalship. Plans of West Point, and a 
statement of its condition, were given to Andre, who hid 
them in his stockings. But meanwhile the 'Vulture' had 
been compelled to change her position. Andre could no 
longer be carried on board, and had to return to New 
York on foot, with a pass from Arnold under the name 
of John Anderson. Almost within sight of the British 
lines he was stopped by three militiamen, whom he tried 
in vain to bribe, was searched, and on the discovery of 
the compromising papers taken to the nearest American 
post. On learning his capture, Arnold hastily escaped 
in his barge to the ' Vulture ' (September 25, 1780). Andre, 
as soon as he knew that Arnold was safe, declared his 
real name and rank. Tried by court-martial as a spy, 
he defended himself, declaring that he could be no spy, 
as he had entered the lines under a flag of truce on 
the invitation of an American general — a specious but 
scarcely tenable plea. He was found guilty, and could not 
even obtain the privilege of being shot instead of hanged. 
Though the justice of his sentence can hardly be denied, 
his execution (October 2, 1780) was useless, and is one of 
the few blots on Washington's fair fame. He lies now in 
Westminster Abbey. Arnold, though he never fulfilled 
his share of the contract, received his reward, and at the 



I'jSo-i. Secojid Period. 185 

head of a legion of loyalists and deserters did, as we shall 
sec, some damage to his former country; but he never 
distinguished himself again, and remained for all future 
time ' the traitor Arnold/ For the gallant young victim of 
his treason, Andrd, universal sympathy has ever been felt 
'On both sides of the Atlantic. 

Not much was done in the war during the year 1780 
.elsewhere than in America, except in India, where Hyder 
Ali inflicted a severe defeat on Colonel Baillie, ^j^^ ^^.^^ -^^ 
and might have taken Madras had he pursued India and at 

,. _,.., , -11 1 sea, 1780. 

his enemy. British trade was seriously damaged 
through the capture not only of the Quebec tleet by the 
Americans, but of the East and West India fleets by 
the Spaniards, who took them into Cadiz with 2,865 
prisoners. The capture of a dozen French merchantmen 
from St. Domingo was a poor set-off to such losses. 

Parliament had been dissolved on September i, and the 
new parliament had met on October 31. The new members 
were as many as 1 13 in number, and among them were the 
younger Pitt, Sheridan, and Wilberforce. The ministers 
were at first triumphant. The great event of the autumn 
was the declaration of war against Holland (De- 
<:ember 20), which followed the accession of the Parliament ; 
latter to the armed neutrality. 'This good town,' HoHand^de- 
wrote Horace Walpole from London, to Mason, dared, Dec. 
January 4, 1781, 'is quite happy, for it has gotten 
anew plaything, a Dutch war, and the folks who are to gain 
by privateering have persuaded those who are to pay the 
piper to dance for joy.' Burke's plan of economical refonn 
was again brought forward and again rejected. 

An attack upon Jersey by the French in the early 
;part of the year was easily beaten off. Spain was pressing 
on the siege of Gibraltar. She had prevailed -pj^^ ^^.^j. ;,^ 
on the Emperor of Morocco, from whose green Europe.iySi. 
hills the town then, as now, was mainly victualled, to 



1 86 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

refuse supplies, and scurvy had begun to rage, when the 
place was again relieved by Admiral Darby. A furious 
bombardment ensued. Nearly 80,000 balls and shells 
were poured in ; the town was almost entirely destroyed, 
and the inhabitants took refuge to the south of the rock ; 
but only about 70 persons were killed and wounded. In 
Minorca St. Philip's castle was besieged, and held out 
gallantly for months under General Murray. The com- 
bined fleets of France and Spain occupied the mouth of 
the Channel from Scilly to Ushant. An indecisive action 
took place off the Doggerbank between an English and 
a Dutch fleet (August 5). 

Before the actual declaration of war, orders had been 
sent to Rodney to seize the Dutch island of St. Eustace, 
a free port, and probably then as rich a mart of 
St.Eustac'e trade as the Danish free port of St. Thomas 
die^^ar' m^ ' ^fterwards became. On February 3, 1 781, the 
the West In- rupturc not being yet known, he carried out his 
aiid'india, ' ordcrs. The prize was a splendid one. It 
^7^^* included 3,000,000/. of merchandise, 150 mer- 

chantmen, a Dutch frigate and five smaller ships of war. 
To these were soon added 30 more merchantmen with a 
6o-gun ship as their convoy, overtaken on their way to 
Europe by a detachment from the English fleet, and 17 
more which entered the harbour after the capture, the 
Dutch flag still flying. The other Dutch colonies in the 
West Indies, Demerara, Essequibo, Berbice, were reduced 
in March. But Rodney had to fight an indecisive action 
with the French fleet on April 29 ; on June 2 Tobago ■ 
capitulated to the French, and before the end of the 
year they retook St. Eustatius from the English, and 
also took St. Martin's. On the southern coast of 
North America Pensacola capitulated to the Spaniards 
after a most gallant defence, and Spain left the British 
troops free to serve against the United States (March 9, 



1 7 So- 1 . Second Period. 1 8 7 

1 781). In India Sir Eyre Coote disarmed the French of 
Pondicherry, who had risen on the arrival of a French 
fleet, and in a glorious campaign drove back the vastly 
superior forces of Hyder Ali, though at the cost of a 
third of his troops, whilst further north the war Avith the 
Mahrattas was virtually brought to a close by a night 
surprise of the latter (March 27, 1781). The Dutch settle- 
ments in India were also attacked, and Negapatam was 
reduced (November 1781). 

Although England now stood alone against three 
foreign enemies, besides her own revolted colonies, it 
would have been difficult to say on which side France 
was the balance of advantage. France was anxious for 

c TVT 1 I 1 1 1 1 peace. Me- 

anxious for peace. Necker had already at the diation of 
close of the last year written secretly to Lord ^"s'"^- 
North proposing a truce on the basis, diplomatically 
termed, of uti possidetis, each party to keep possession of 
what he had. A few months later Vergennes in turn took 
up the idea, but not liking to propose it, handed it over to 
the Austrian minister Kaunitz, who attempted a mediation 
and proposed a peace congress at Vienna, but failed. 
France, with nearly 160,000,000/. sterling of debt, was 
verging on bankruptcy, yet Necker was prevailed upon to 
consent to a loan of 10,000,000 more of French livres to 
America, to be negotiated in Holland in the name of the 
King of France. The negotiator, Laurens, was a South 
Carolinian, and the first use he made of it was to pay a 
debt of his own State to Holland. Presently Necker was 
dismissed from office. It was after all in America that 
the fate of the Avar must be decided. 

Not however in the north. The winter of 1 780-1 was 
a gloomier one than any yet for the main army under 
Washington. By November 20, 17S0, the soldiers had 
been for ten months without pay. The paper money of 
the Congress was made more worthless still by a flood of 



iSS TJlc War of American Independence. a,d. 

British forgeries. Washington deemed a foreign loan 

'indispensably necessary for the continuance 

ton's army of the war.' On the night of January i, lySij 

during the ^^ wholc of the Pcnnsvlvanian troops, three 

winter of j r j 

1780-1. Mu- regiments only excepted, mutinied and declared 
times. ^^^ ^^^ would march to Philadelphia to 

obtain redress. In endeavouring to restrain them one 
officer was killed, another mortally and several less se- 
verely wounded. The mutineers met with their bayonets 
a favourite general, Wayne, who vainly tried to stop 
them, and commenced their march, 1,300 strong, with 
six pieces of artillery. They were not, indeed, traitors, 
and when Sir H. Clinton sent some men to tempt them 
over with advantageous terms to the British side, they 
handed over his emissaries to General Wayne for execu- 
tion. A committee of Congress met the mutineers, and 
compromised matters by discharging many, and giving 
40 days' furloughs to others. The New Jersey brigade 
was the next to revolt (January 20), and Washington had 
to resort to force, and hang five of the ringleaders (Janu- 
ary 27). Events like these did not promote recruiting. 
Washington's favourite plan of enlisting men for the war 
failed so completely that some of the States had to resort 
again to temporary enlistments (April i) ; and by May, 
out of 37,000 men requisitioned by Congress, the whole 
of the northern States, from New Jersey to New Hamp- 
shire, had not 7,000 infantry in the field. Compelled to 
resort to impressment for obtaining supplies, Washington 
wrote in his Diary (May i) : * We are daily and hourly 
oppressing the people, souring their tempers and alien- 
ating their affections.' 

Still, the worst of the financial crisis was tided over 
through the exertions of Robert Morris, appointed super- 
intendent of finance (February 1781). By means of a 
bank which he established, called the Bank of North 



1 7 8 1 . Second Period. 1 89 

America, lie succeeded on the whole from henceforth in 
meeting the engagements of the army, going ^j^^ ^^.^.^ 
indeed so far as to procure supplies on his tided ovor ; 
own credit. A still more important event was of Confede- 
the adoption by the last outstanding State ^fii,°d^"''^^^' 
(March i, 1781) of the Articles of Confederation M'arch i, 
approved of by Congress since 1777. The ^^ 
chief cause of delay had been a question of waste lands 
and boundaries. It will be recollected that many of the 
States had been chartered with very extensive limits, ex- 
tending often to the Pacific Ocean. These States claimed 
the benefit of their charters, and the ownership of all waste 
lands within the purview of those charters. The smaller 
States with fixed limits, on the other hand — Rhode Island, 
Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland — claimed that Congress 
should fix boundaries for all, and that the waste lands 
should belong to the Union at large. All, however, ex- 
cept Maryland had acceded to the Confederation by the 
end of 1779. Eventually New York (1780) consented to 
let Congress fix her western boundaries, and ceded her 
public lands to the Union. A year later Virginia, not to 
be outdone, ceded all her claims to what was known as 
the north-western territory, i.e. that to the N.W. of the 
Ohio. Thus the bone of contention was removed, and 
Maryland signed the articles. Yet at the very moment 
when the revolted colonies were thus drawing closer to- 
gether the bond of union. Lord George Germain, the 
English secretary of state, was writing to Sir Henry 
Clinton (March 7), in a despatch afterwards intercepted : 
' So very contemptible is the rebel force now in all parts, 
and so vast is our superiority everywhere, that no resist- 
ance on their part is to be apprehended that can mate- 
rially obstruct the progress of the king's arms in the 
speedy suppression of the rebellion.' 

In the south the war was about to take a new aspect 



1 90 TJie War of Avici'ican Indcpaidcncc. a.d. 

under Gates's successor, the former Quaker blacksmith, 
Greene. 

The state of things as Greene found it (Decemiber 1780), 
seemed well-nigh desperate. He had only 2,307 men, of 
whom one-half were militia, and only 800 were properly 
clothed and equipped. His army, to use his own words, 
was ' rather a shadow than a substance .... artillery, 
baggage, stores, everything had gone by the 
The^south. board on the fatal day of the recent defeat' 
Battle of the [jx. at Camden). The soldiers went and came 
January 17, as they plcascd, and were only stopped from 
^^^^" doing so when one of them was shot as a deser- 

ter. Moving on himself to the Pedee river, he sent General 
Morgan with 1,000 men into the north-west of South Caro- 
lina, towards the junction of the Broad and Pacolet rivers. 
Here at a place called the Cowpens (from one of those 
enclosures into which the numerous herds of cattle are 
driven for marking), Morgan was attacked by Tarleton 
with somewhat superior forces. The Americans were 
already outflanked on both sides, when a rear-movement 
of the Maryland division, which was mistaken for a 
breaking of the American line, drew on in turn the main 
body of the British under a murderous cross-fire. They 
were thrown into disorder, the Americans charged on all 
sides, and the day ended in the utter defeat of the English. 

The fame of the victory spread far and wide. Lord 
Cornwalhs, writing to Sir Henry Clinton the day after 
Lord Corn- ^^ battle. Called it an 'unexpected and ex- 
waiiis ad- traordinary event,' of which it was ' impossible 
into^No^fh^'^ to forcsce all the consequences.' But he was 
G?eene^' bent upon an offensive campaign, in which, 
retreating, marching through North Carolina and Virginia, 
he should form a junction on the Chesapeake with the 
Northern British array. As the first step towards this, 
Arnold had already been sent by Clinton with i,6co men 



1 78 1. Stxond Period. 191 

to the James river (January 2), and had phindered and 
burnt Richmond. So leaving Lord Rawdon with a body 
of troops in South Carohna, Cornwalhs pushed across the 
border into North Carohna, destroying all superfluous 
baggage, and proceeding mostly by forced marches. Too 
weak to resist the English advance, although Morgan with 
his victorious troops had rejoined him, Greene retreated 
before Cornwallis for 200 miles to the north bank of the 
Dan river, which he crossed the night before his pur- 
suer reached it. Of his troops, many hundreds tracked 

* the ground with their bloody feet; ^ they had but one 
blanket to four men, besides being unpaid and irregularly 
fed. Lord Cornwallis now proceeded by easier stages 
to Hillsborough, whence he issued a proclamation (Fe- 
bruary 20), inviting all loyal subjects to repair to his 
standard. The loyalists were indeed numerous, and as 
many as seven companies were formed in a day. But a 
body of 300 were cut to pieces by a larger force of Ame- 
ricans under Pickens and Lee, with ' dreadful carnage,' 
say the American accounts, although ' begging quarter,' 
say the English. The event seems to have struck terror 
into their party, for Lord Cornwallis wrote of his being 

* among timid friends, and adjoining to inveterate rebels.' 

After some marching and counter-marching, Greene at 
last accepted battle at Guilford Court House (March 15). 
His forces were, by American accounts even. Battle of 
twice as many as the 1,900 of Cornwallis. The Courr*^ 
Americans were very strongly posted, but in House, 

1 . . ™, ^ , March 15, 

three separate positions. 1 he nrstand strongest, 1781; Com- 
manned by North Carolina militia, was easily bac}!^to\he 
taken, the militiamen taking to their heels after coast, 
a first or second shot, and nearly one-half without firing 
at all. The second position was obstinately contested by 
the Virginia brigade, but a bayonet charge finally dis- 
lodged them. Round the third, commanded by Greene 



192 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

himself, the battle raged long with varying success. At 
last Greene retreated, leaving his artillery behind, but 
the victory was dearly won. Out of the small British 
force, 570 were killed or wounded, whilst the Americans 
lost only 419, all but 93 continentals. The battle, more- 
over, had been fought 200 miles from Cornwallis's com- 
munications, and his march henceforth became a retreat, 
in which he was in turn pursued by Greene. FalHng 
back towards the coast, he reached Wilmington (April 7) 
with the relics of his army, and all North Carolina was 
recovered by the Americans. Cornwallis was still bent 
on reaching Virginia. 

Hither La Fayette had been sent to oppose Arnold. 
His troops were as usual without pay or supplies. With 
characteristic generosity — serving, it will be remembered, 
La Fayette without pay — he borrowcd 2,oco/. to ecjuipthem. 
and Arnold With the assistancc of Steuben at the head of 

in Virginia. -.,.., i i • i 

Cornwallis a body of militia, he succeeded m keepmg m 
Wilmington clieck the already superior British force. In 
(April). the last days of April, Cornwallis, without 

Clinton's authority, left Wilmington with 1,435 men, and 
marched without opposition to Petersburg in Virginia. 
Clinton trembled for ' the fatal consequences' which might 
ensue. But Lord George Germain was entirely with Corn- 
wallis, and every despatch urged the importance of push- 
ing the war in Virginia. 

Before Cornwallis had even reached Wilmington, 
Greene was already taking measures for recovering South 
Greene re- Carolina and Georgia. Three posts com- 
covers the mandcd the interior of the former, Camden 
oPsouth ^"^ and Ninety-six in South Carolina, and Augusta 
Carolina. j^^ Georgia. Lee and Marion were sent to ope- 
rate between Camden and Charleston, Sumpter between 
Camden and Ninety-six, Pickens between Ninety-six and 
Augusta. Greene himself moved upon Camden. Near 



1 78 1 . Second Period. 1 9 3 

this place he was attacked (April 18) in a well-chosen 
position by Lord Rawdon, with 800 or 900 men, Greene's 
own regulars alone outnumbering the English, whilst his 
total force, according to the English accounts, came up to 
2,000 men. But he was defeated, losing rather more in 
killed and wounded than the English, who could, how- 
ever, ill spare their loss of 258 men. Lord Rawdon at 
first pursued him, but Lee and Marion had meanwhile 
broken the connexion between Camden and Charleston. 
It became necessary to evacuate Camden, while Rawdon 
was obliged to retreat, marching down the north bank of 
the Santee. Before long the whole north-west of South 
Carolina had been recovered by the Americans, who took 
many prisoners through the surrender of the smaller 
posts. Then Augusta fell (June 5), whilst Ninety-six was 
besieged. An assault upon it, hastened %)y the approach 
of Lord Rawdon, failed, with severe loss ; but it was too 
isolated to be thenceforth tenable, and was evacuated, 
whilst Lord Rawdon announced to the loyalists of the 
district that they could no longer be protected. He re- 
turned to Charleston ill and disgusted, and sailed before 
long for England. The result of the campaign had been 
that Greene had recovered the principal part of South 
Carolina, and had confined the English within the Santee, 
Congaree, and Edisto rivers. Thus Lord Cornwallis's 
rash advance into Virginia had thrown away the fruit of 
all previous successes in the south, and reduced the 
English dominion to a mere foothold or two. He himself 
was now convinced that the idea of the loyalists ' rising 
in any number and to any purpose' had 'totally failed,' 
and doubted whether the English force were sufficient for 
a war of conquest. Yet with eyes thus open did he rush 
upon his doom. 

Whilst these things were taking place, the Opposition 
in the new House of Commons again endeavoured to put 

M. H. O 



194 TJie Wa7' of American Independence. a.d. 

a stop to the war. Motions were made to this effect by 
James Hartley (May 30), by Fox (June 12). 
in pariia- Fox declared that the report of Lord Corn- 
S't^e^"'' wallis (after the battle of Guilford Court 
younger House), showcd the war to be 'impracticable 
in its object, and ruinous in its progress.' 
The honours of the debate were, however, for the younger 
Pitt, who was declared to have equalled his father. He 
termed the war ' a most accursed war, wicked, barbarous, 
cruel, and unnatural,' and spoke of the ' impious course of 
enforcing unconditional submission.' The ministers won, 
but with diminishing majorities. The session was closed 
on July 18. The final catastrophe was not to be diverted 
by a timely peace. 

And yet never had America felt weaker. Her young 
navy had been ^nihilated ; only two frigates remained. 
Weakness of Congress had given up wrangling about the 
America ; conditions of pcace. Some of its members were 

subserviency ^ 

to France, in the pay of France. Boundaries, fisheries, 
the navigation of the Mississippi, the country west of the 
Ohio, all these points, hitherto deemed essential, were 
thrown overboard. Independence was to be the sole con- 
dition, and in the same breath such subserviency to France 
was acknowledged that the American commissioners were 
instructed not only ' to undertake nothing in their nego- 
tiations for peace or truce without the knowledge and 
concurrence of the ministers of the King of France,' 
but '■ ultimately to govern themselves by their advice and 
opinion' (May 1781). 

Cornwallis reached Petersburg on May 20. He sent 
Cornwaliis Tarleton to Charlottesville, where the State 
in Virginia, legislature was sitting, and where seven of the 
draw^to members were taken prisoners. Meantime, he 
SglSr" started himself in pursuit of La Fayette. With 
1781). great adroitness, at the head of about equal 

forces, though with not nearly so many regulars, La Fayette 



1 78 1 . Second Period. 1 95 

eluded and checked him; and the summer was spent in use- 
less movements and in mere ravages, during which it is said 
that property to the amount of 3,000,000/. was destroyed. 
But Lord Cornwallis had received orders from Sir Henry 
Clinton to send back 3,000 men to New York, and to 
withdraw to a defensive position (June-July). He saw 
too late that his movement into Virginia must prove a 
failure, and wished to transfer the command to another 
general and return to Charleston. But in obedience to 
orders he withdrew (August 1-8) with his army to York- 
town and Gloucester — 'a very advantageous place,' wrote 
La Fayette to Vergennes, ' for one who has the maritime 
superiority' — and a French fleet under De Grasse, bring- 
ing reinforcements, was then expected on the coast. 

Whilst Cornwallis is fortifying himself in Yorktown, 
and Washington is doing his best to collect his forces for 
the final encounter, let us cast one more glance g^^^ig r 
on the other fields of warfare in America. In Eutaw 
South Carolina Greene was pushing what re- Septembers, 
mained of the British forces more and more ^^^^ ■ "^^^ 

war at an 

towards Charleston. A final engagement took end in the 
place at Eutaw Springs (September 8), in which 
the English under Colonel Stuart, Lord Rawdon's suc- 
cessor, remained masters of the field through an unex- 
pected rally, though losing not much less than 700 men 
against 555 on the American side. But they were too 
weak to hold their ground, and drew off in the night 
towards Charleston, after destroying 1,000 stand of 
arms, and leaving 70 wounded men behind. The struggle 
in the south was henceforth virtually closed, although 
Wilmington, Charleston, and Savannah remained in 
English hands. The Enghsh had fought like heroes, 
but most of their victories had been as fatal to them as 
defeats. 

Just two days before the battle of Eutaw Springs, the 



196 The War of American Independence. a.d. w' 

war had cast up a last flicker in the extreme north. 
. , , . Arnold, whom Cornwalhs, on his arrival in Vir- 

Arnold in ' ' 

Connecticut ginia, had sent back to New York, had been 
ep em er;. jjg^g^^,]^^^^ l^y Clinton against Connecticut, his 
native State, in order, if possible, to draw off either the 
French, or a portion of the main army. He plundered 
and burnt New London, and stormed Fort Griswold, gar- 
risoned by some 1 50 militiamen under a colonel. Quarter 
was refused. This was Benedict Arnold's last exploit. 

Meanwhile Washington had had time to effect a 
junction with the French forces. As early as May 21 
^ . r he had agreed with Rochambeau that the war 

Junction 01 t' 

Washington should be Carried to the Chesapeake. In June 
French; the French from Rhode Island, including a 
operations ncwly arrived reinforcement of is^oo men, left 

on the ^ jj J 

Chesapeake Newport for the Hudson river, whilst a timely 

decided on. . r ^ t- i. t 

succour m money 01 2,500,000 French livres 
(out of a promised French loan of 6,000,000), also came 
in. Seeing himself thus strengthened, Washington for a 
time projected a combined attack on New York; Ro- 
chambeau preferred the plan of operations on the Chesa- 
peake, which La Fayette also warmly supported, and the 
latter plan was finally decided on, in order to make sure 
of the support of the French admiral, Count de Grasse, 
who would not be able to remain off the coast beyond the 
middle of October, a time which was considered too early 
for the reduction of New York. 

By August 2 1 the combined French and American 
troops were on the march. On the 23rd and 24th they 
„,, , crossed the Hudson without hindrance from 

Ihe march 

to Virginia, Clinton, who was expecting to be attacked. It 
ugusti7 I. ^^^ September 2 before he began to suspect 
that New York was not their object. Meanwhile on 
August 31 De Grasse arrived in Chesapeake Bay with 
28 ships of the line, having taken Lord Rawdon prisoner 



1 78 1. Second Period. 1 97 

while the latter was returning to Europe. A few days 
later he beat off the British fleet under Admiral Graves, 
and shortly after took two British frigates. Washington 
was pressing on. Having visited on the way, after more 
than six years' absence, his own estate at Mount Vernon, 
he reached Williamsburg on the 14th. The natural im- 
petuosity of his usually self-restrained character betrays 
itself in a letter written the following day to General Lin- 
coln :— ' Every day we now lose is comparatively an age 
. . . hurry on then, my dear sir, with your troops on the 
wings of speed.' At the last moment a check came from 
the French admiral, who would have preferred to operate 
on New York, but Washington and La Fayette prevailed 
upon him to waive the plan, and join in the attack on 
Yorktown. 

On September 28 the whole army advanced to within 
two miles of that place, which was completely invested, 
the French taking the left and the Americans 
the right, whilst another body under a French vested, Sep-' 
commander also invested Gloucester on the c^nwams' 
other side of the York river. Expecting surrenders, 
succour, Cornwallis did not impede their ope- 
rations. Trenches were opened on October 5. The 
batteries began their fire on the 9th and loth; a frigate 
and three transports were set on fire by red-hot shot on 
the night of the loth-iith. By the nth the English 
could scarcely return the fire, and in the night the second 
parallel was begun within 100 yards of their lines. On 
the 14th two redoubts were taken by storm, one by the 
French, the other by the Americans. A desperate sally 
just before break of day on the i6th, at first successful, 
failed. On that night an attempt was made to cross the 
river to Gloucester Point, and cut a way through the 
French lines ; but a violent storm prevented its success. 
The next day Cornwallis proposed a cessation of hostili- 



198 The War of American Independe7ice. a.d. 

ties, a capitulation was concluded, and on the 19th he sur- 
rendered Yorktown and Gloucester to Washington, with 
the troops and 100 pieces of artillery, whilst the ships and 
sailors were surrendered to De Grasse. Clinton, after 
vainly trying a diversion through Arnold, as above men- 
tioned, had sailed with 7,000 men to the relief of Lord 
Cornwallis on the very day of the surrender, and only re- 
ceived the news on reaching the Chesapeake, when he 
returned to New York. 

One of Washington's aides-de-camp bore the news to 
Philadelphia. Reaching the town at night, he was near 
Rejoicings in being taken up by a watchman for knocking 
America. too loud at the President's door. The old door- 
keeper of Congress died for joy. Washington gave a 
free pardon to all military offenders. There were public 
thanksgiving services, votes of thanks to the commanders 
and officers of the allied army ; a commemorative marble 
column was directed to be erected at Yorktown itself; 
2 stands of colours (out of 28 captured) were presented to 
Washington, 2 field-pieces to Rochambeau. 

The news reached Lord George Germain on No- 
vember 23. He communicated it to Lord North, who 
Proceedings took it * as he would have taken a bullet 
meS^f ihe through his breast,' exclaiming, ' O God ! it is 
ministers all over.' Yet when, a few days later the 
tacked ; king Opened parliament, his speech reiterated 
ag^nst^the ^^^ resolution to preserve America, and ex- 
war, pressed the hope of being able by the valour 
of his fleets and armies to restore the blessings of peace 
to his dominions. The speech was fiercely attacked by 
Lord Shelburne in the Lords, by Fox, Burke, Pitt in the 
Commons. Fox declared that it meant, ' My rage for 
conquest is unquenched, my revenge unsated, nor can 
anything except the total subjugation of my revolted 
American subjects allay my animosity,' and threatened 
the ministers with the scaffold. Burke compared the 



1 78 1 -2. Second Period, 199 

American war to the attempt of a man to shear a wolf 
because he had been accustomed to shear sheep. Lord 
North on the other hand declared that the late disaster 
in Virginia ought ' to impel, to urge, to animate ' English- 
men; Lord George Germain, declared that he would never 
assent to reconciliation on the terms of American indepen- 
dence, as this country depended on America ' for its very 
existence.' The address was carried in both Houses by 
large majorities. But a fortnight later when Sir James 
Lowther moved a resolution that the attempt to reduce 
America by arms was impolitic and ought to be aban- 
doned, Lord North avowed that it would be 'neither wise 
nor right to prosecute the war in America any longer on 
a continental plan ... by sending fresh armies to march 
through the colonies, in order by those marches to sub- 
due America to obedience,' This was a confession of 
failure, and Lowther's resolution was rejected by a re- 
duced majority. Public meetings began to be held in 
London, Middlesex, Surrey, Westminster, asking that 
hostilities should be put a stop to. In this request they 
were joined by the West India merchants, though as yet 
these were ignorant of the extent to which their special 
trade was about to be affected. 

On January 31, 1782, the French retook Uemerara, 
and in February St. Kitt's, Nevis, and Montserrat surren- 
dered to the Spaniards, so that of the Lee- ^^ 

' ' 1 he war al- 

ward Islands only Barbadoes and Antigua re- most ever>'- 
mained to the English. In the East more trourtoEng- 
Dutch settlements had been reduced, and were i^"^- ,^''- 

1 1 1-1 • 1 T-> • • 1 norca lost 

agam lost through jealousies between British (p'eb. 7, 
commanders. The Cape of Good Hope proved ^^^^ ' 
too strong to be taken. A series of sea-actions fought 
between English fleets under Commodore Johnstone or 
Sir Edward Hughes and the French fleet under Suffrein, 
have been claimed as victories by historians of both 
nations. At any rate they did not prevent SuftVein from 



200 TJie War of American Independe^ice. a,d. 

being able always to refit, or from landing 3,000 men 
as auxiliaries to Hyder Ali, tidings of whose death 
(December 7, 1782) alone stopped the victorious pro- 
gress of his son, henceforth Tippoo Sultan. But peace 
was concluded with the Mahrattas (May 17, 1782). 
Nearer home, Minorca had been surrendered to the 
French after a most gallant defence, whilst Admiral 
Kempenfelt returned home, after failing to intercept a 
superior French fleet. The mismanagement of the navy 
by Lord Sandwich now became a subject of loud com- 
plaint, and in the attacks upon him in parliament the 
majority of the ministers was seen to be waning. 

The war with America had long lost all its popularity. 

England had been threatened with ruin to her trade if 

she lost her North American colonies, and 

Weakness - , . ^ . . , 

and fall of after scven years cessation of mtercourse with 
m?nfstrv'^^^'^ them, thanks to the marvellous development 
(March 20, of her manufacturing industry, she seemed to 
^'' ^ ■ be none the worse. Lord George Germain, 

who was more especially identified in the public mind 
with these bugbear prophecies, had become so unpopular 
that Lord North himself asked him to resign ; the 
king, however, insisting on giving him a peerage to 
show that no slur was put upon him. On February 22 
General Conway moved an address against the further pro- 
secution of the war, and this time the motion was defeated 
by a majority of one only (193 to 192). It was hence- 
forth evident that the ministry was doomed. Five days 
later a similar address was carried by a majority of 
nineteen. The king still held out against all persuasion. 
Lord North always urging him to accept his resignation, 
and declaring in the House with truth that it was from 
no personal desire that he remained in office. The 
answer given to Conway's address being vague, the 
latter brought forward a second one, declaring enemies 



1782. 



Second Period. 201 



to the king and country those who would further prose- 
cute the war on the continent of America. This time 
the motion was adopted without a division, and on the 
next day leave was given to bring in a bill for enabling 
the king to conclude a peace or a truce. The con- 
tinuance of the ministry was impossible, and Lord North 
at last obtained his release from office, the king remind- 
ing him at parting, ' It is you that desert me, not I you.' 
On March 20, obtaining on a point of order precedence 
over a member who was to move a vote of want of con- 
fidence, Lord North announced his resignation, and the 
House adjourned. A long debate was expected ; it was 
snowing, and Lord North's carriage was almost alone in 
attendance. As he went out, ' You see, gentlemen,' he 
said, turning to some of his opponents, '• the advantage of 
being in the secret.' No kindlier, pleasanter minister 
ever lost half an empire to his country ; no minister ever 
did so much mischief, against his own better judgment, 
out of mere deference to a half-crazy sovereign. 

The king, it seems, at first thought of withdrawing to 
Hanover, and it was with great difficulty that he was pre- 
vailed upon to accept a ministry (March 22) in 
which Rockingham was premier, Shelburne Rockingham 
and Fox were secretaries of state, Conway com- sheibu7ne 
mander-in-chief, Barr^ treasurer of the navy, treats with 
Burke paymaster of the forces, Sheridan under- 
secretary of state. In the forming of this ministry 
it was made a condition in writing that there should be 
' no veto to the independence of America.' Young Pitt, 
conscious of his power, stood aloof till he could enter the 
cabinet. The affairs of America were comprised in the 
Home Department, which Lord Shelburne took. He 
lost no time in sending Sir Guy Carleton as commander- 
in-chief to America in the place of Sir H. Clinton, with the 
most conciliatory instructions, and in putting himself in 



202 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

communication personally with Henry Laurens, a late 
president of Congress (who had been taken on the high 
seas, and was now a prisoner in England on parole), and 
with Franklin by means of a friendly letter through 
Richard Oswald, a Scotchman who had resided many 
years in America, ' a pacifical man.' 

But America felt herself to be so weak, and knew Eng- 
land to be still so strong, that she could not yet believe in 
America so P^ace. Some desultory warfare was still being 
reduced that carried on between loyalists and republicans 

she cannot .,-,.. • , i i 

believe in m the Carolmas, with much ravage and mas- 
P^^*^^' sacre on both sides, the result tending 

always against the British cause. On the other hand 
the American treasury had been drained of its last dollar 
by the beginning of January, and the States declared that 
they could pay no taxes. Two millions of dollars were 
to have been paid by April i ; not a cent was paid by the 
23rd, and only 20,000 dollars by June i. There were only 
10,000 soldiers in the northern army, clamouring as usual 
for pay. Under such circumstances the pacific overtures 
of Sir Guy Carleton, who reached New York in May, 
seemed too good to be true ; both Washington and the 
Congress alike distrusted them, and a passport was re- 
fused for bringing despatches to Philadelphia. 

Just now, indeed, occurred one of the most curious 
episodes of the period. The discontents of the army 
were at their height, and Washington could 
offered to barely restrain it from violence. Robert 
Washington, j^orris, the finance minister, unable to obtain 
money, was abused alike for asking it and for not giving 
it ; ' baited,' as he wrote, ' by continual clamorous de- 
mands ; ' ' paid by invective ' for ^ the forfeiture of all 
that is valuable in life ; tempted daily to lay down a 
burthen which pressed him to the earth.' An address 
was now presented to Washington from a number of 



1782. Secofid Period. 203 

officers and soldiers, setting forth the failure of justice 
from Congress, the advantages of a mixed form of 
government, and suggesting that their chief should take 
rule with the name of king. It met with a stern rebuke 
from Washington. But so weak was he that he wrote 
at the end of this month that if the British advanced he 
must evacuate his positions. 

Negotiations meanwhile were going on on the British 
side, not only with America but with France, and to a 
trifling extent with Spain. With the second 
power they were hastened by a splendid vie- victory in the 
tory of Rodney's in the West Indies over the (A^ri/i^f ^' 
French fleet under De Grasse, in which seven 1782). 
ships of the line and two frigates were captured, besides 
the French admiral and his flag-ship the ' Ville de Paris,' 
then the largest ship on the seas, which had taken part 
in the reduction of Yorktown ; though, indeed, on the 
return passage she and four other of the prizes foundered 
with their crews, in a hurricane. Jamaica, which had 
been the object of the allied fleets, was thus saved to 
the English ; but the Bahama Islands were surrendered 
to Spain, whilst in the far north La Perouse, ere long to 
be better known as a scientific explorer, was destroying 
the settlements on the Hudson's Bay river. 

The death of Rockingham (July i) did not impede 
the progress of negotiation, as Shelburne now took the 
premiership ; but the ministry was weakened 
by the secession of Fox, Burke, and others, bume mi 
Pitt, on the other hand, joined the cabinet as aJio7o7sa-''" 
chancellor of the exchequer, and Fox going at vannah(july 
once into opposition, the rivalry between these 
two celebrated men, hitherto united in their politics, now 
began, which was only to end with their lives. Just about 
this time Georgia, where, in spite of the aid of the Creek 
and Choctaw Indians, the British had been gradually 



204 "^^^^ War of AmeT'ican Independence, a.d. 

driven into Savannah, was recovered from them altogether 
through the evacuation of that place (July 12), the loyalists 
withdrawing into Florida, whilst the British regulars joined 
their comrades in Charleston, which was too strong to be 
conquered. 

Although some movements on the northern frontier 
took place as late as February 1783, active warfare was 
Active war- now virtually reduced, except in the East, to 
toTheTie-e'^ the siege of Gibraltar, the prize for the sake 
Gibraltar. of which Spain had against her will entered 
into the war, and which she was bent on recovering. 
This is not the place for relating that celebrated siege, 
with its bombardments and its sallies. We must con- 
tent ourselves with mentioning the famous attack by the 
whole Spanish forces, ships, floating batteries, and land 
artillery, on September 13, 1782, and its triumphant 
repulse by the besieged, when the floating batteries were 
set on fire with red-hot balls. Shortly afterwards the place 
was revictualled by a fleet under Lord Howe, which next 
engaged the combined French and Spanish fleets in a 
decisive battle. Gibraltar was not yet to be recovered by 
Spain. 

Negotiations had all this while been going on in 
Paris, but separately with the American commissioners, 
Prceress of ^'^^ vi\\ki France. Franklin had at first treated 
negotiations; alone, and all difficulties seemed by August to 
articles of be at an end, when his colleague Jay arriving, 
tween^nt^- ^^^ aftcrwards Adams, interposed new ob- 
land and staclcs. In another month, however, the British 
Nov. 30,' negotiators laid before them an intercepted 
^^^^' despatch from the French secretary of legation 

in Philadelphia, which showed underhand dealings on 
the part of France to the detriment of America. Jay's 
unwillingness to proceed was thus removed ; and it 
was time that it should be. The loyalists of Pennsyl- 



1782. Second Period, 205 

vania, Maryland, Delaware, New York, were presenting 
addresses to Sir Guy Carleton against the negotiations, 
declaring their determination to resist the Congress. 
Washington wrote in October : ' The longsufferance of 
the army is almost exhausted ; it is high time for a peace.' 
Although specifically instructed, as has been seen, to 
undertake nothing without the knowledge of the French 
ministry, and to ' govern themselves by their advice and 
opinion,' the American commissioners signed preliminary 
articles of peace behind the back of the French Govern- 
ment. Vergennes naturally complained. America was 
at that very moment begging a further loan of France. 
Franklin was obliged to eat humble pie ; he acknowledged 
that he and his colleagues had been ' guilty of neglecting 
a point of bie7isea7ice^ and hoped it would be excused. The 
fact evidently is that he was determined to m.ake peace at 
any price. France, indeed, was generous ; she granted a 
loan of 6,000,000 livres, and paid down 600,000. But she 
was not just in her generosity, for to do this she was 
obliged to stop payment for a twelvemonth of her own 
bills of exchange, due in America and the East Indies. 
Spain, too, was so exhausted that in the course of the 
year she had had to borrow from Portugal at S per cent., 
whilst her paper was at a discount of 14. In fact, though 
standing alone against so many belligerents, England 
had suffered least of all. 

On December 5 the session of parliament was opened, 
and the king announced his consent to the independence 
of the American colonies. ' In thus admitting opening of 
their separation from the crown of Great PF^'^^'f"'' 
Britain,' he said, * I have sacrificed every con- king's 
sideration of my own to the wishes and opinion sp^^<^^- 
of the people. I make it my humble and earnest prayer 
to Almighty God that Great Britain may not feel the evils 
which might result from so great a dismemberment of 



2o6 TJie War of American Independence, a.d. 

the empire, and that America may be free from those 
calamities which have formerly proved in the mother- 
country how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of 
constitutional liberty. Religion, language, interest, affec- 
tions, may, and I hope will yet prove a bond of perma- 
nent union between the two countries ; to this end neither 
attention nor disposition shall be wanting on my part.' 
To the surprise of many the speech was disapproved by 
Fox and Burke, as well as by Lord North. 

In the same month the French fleet left the coast of 
America, carrying with it the French troops, which had 
The French "^^^ been two years and a half in the country, 
troops return and yct had never met the English except 

urope. ^^ Yorktown. Washington meanwhile was 
writing that the temper of the army was ' much soured,' 
and ' more irritable than at any period since the com- 
mencement of the war.' 

On January 20, 1783, the preliminaries of peace were 
signed in Paris between Great Britain, France, and Spain. 
Prelimina- '^^^ United States were acknowledged as free, 
ries of sovereign, and independent, their frontier being 

Francrand marked by a line drawn from the north-west 
Spain, Jan- a.ne:le of Nova Scotia toward one of the heads 

uary 20, o 

1783- of the Connecticut river, thence to Lake On- 

tario, and through the middle of that lake and of Lakes 
Erie and Huron to the Lake of the Woods, thence to the 
Mississippi, and along its course to Fort Mobile and the 
borders of Florida. The Americans obtained the right 
of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland and in the Gulf 
of the St. Lawrence ; the whole course of the Mississippi 
was to be free to both nations. As between England and 
France there was substantially a general restitution of 
conquered territory, except that France kept Tobago ; and 
there was some exchange of territory on the coast of 
Africa. Spain, unable to obtain Gibraltar, restored the 



1783. Second Period. 207 

Bahamas, but retained Minorca, and retained or obtained 
all Florida. The loyalists were recommended to the 
favourable consideration of Congress, which paid no heed 
to the recommendation. 

Shortly after the conclusion of the general treaty, 
an armistice followed by a peace was concluded with 
Holland, on the same principle of mutual restitution, 
except that Holland lost Negapatam. The only enemy 
now in arms against England was Tippoo Peace with 
Sultan. There was fighting in India between Sxitpoo^ 
him and his French allies on the one side, and Sultan. 
the British on the other, after the date of the peace. 
When the news of this came, the French were recalled, 
and the sultan was invited to join in the peace. He 
refused to do so till he had reduced Mangalore, but 
having done this consented to treat on the basis of a 
mutual restoration of conquests (March 1784). 

The treaties of Paris were sharply assailed in parlia- 
ment, chiefly as respects what was declared to be the 
desertion of the loyalists. A coalition between 

^ 1 T 1 1VT , 11 Fall of Shel- 

Fox and Lord North was now avowed, and bume; the 
amendments to the address were carried, then ^bist^ 
specific resolutions condemning ministers on (April 2, 
account of the peace. Lord Shelburne re- 
signed ; and as Pitt declined to form a ministry, a coalition 
cabinet was formed under the Duke of Portland, com- 
prising Fox and Lord North. Among the earliest acts 
of this ministry was the appointment of commissioners 
to inquire into the losses of the loyalists, and to allow 
half-pay to all who had served. From first to last over 
12,000,000/. were paid to them. 

The discontents in the American army were now even 
worse than ever. The chief grievance of the officers was 
that the half-pay for life, promised in 1 780, had never been 
paid or even recognised by the requisite majority of States. 



2o8 The Wai" of A mericaii Independence. a. d. 

The officers offered to commute their claim for a fixed 
Discontents ^^"^ 5 ^^^ ^ majority of States could not be ob- 
of Washing- tained even for this proposal. A meeting of 

ton s officers. „ , , . , , ? 

Cessation of officers was Summoned, at which resolutions 
(AprJrij! "^^^^ to ^^ offered that might have led to civil 
1783)- war. Washington came himself to the meeting 

and read an address, in which he urged patience, and 
pledged himself to leave nothing untried to obtain redress. 
The very next day news reached Philadelphia of the 
signature of the peace, and rather more than a month 
later Congress issued a proclamation for the cessation of 
hostilities. 

But it proved almost as difficult to put an end to hos- 
tilities as to continue them. The troops remained always 
Congress Unpaid. Washington discharged at once on 
b^'^muti'-^*^ furlough all who had the means of returning 
neers. home, and many who were willing to go with- 

out means. But one company of Pennsylvanian recruits 
marched to the State House of Philadelphia, threaten- 
ing the Congress with their vengeance if their claims 
were not satisfied, and Washington had to send a de- 
tachment to disperse them and arrest their chiefs. With 
the British still in New York, Congress had actually to 
withdraw to Princeton in order to be out of the way of its 
mutinous soldiers. It was owing to Washington alone that 
the whole army did not throw down its arms. Four 
months' pay out of the long arrears was all that Robert 
Morris could find to pay it. 

After the ratification of the treaties between Great 
Ratification Britain, France, Spain, and America, Congress 
of the disbanded the army, with the exception of a 

Septemi)er 3, Small force which had been enlisted for a definite 
siavV ^ ^ time. Sir Guy Carleton had already received 
question. orders to evacuate New York. Some months 
elapsed, however, during which arrangements had to be 



1783. Second Period. 209 

made for enabling the loyalists to emigrate, and also, sad 
to say, for the restoration of slaves, an article of the treaty 
prohibiting the British from 'carrying away any negroes or 
other property of the inhabitants.' It is not a little painful 
to find Franklin, the professed opponent of slavery, com- 
plaining to his colleague, Henry Laurens, that General 
Carleton ' has sent away a great number of negroes, al- 
leging that freedom having been promised them by a 
proclamation, the honour of the nation was concerned/ 
Sir Guy Carleton, it seems, took up the position, which 
appears correct in point of law, that the article of the 
treaty could apply only to captured negroes, and not to 
such as had voluntarily joined the British ; but it is to be 
feared that many an unfortunate negro did not receive 
from his subordinates the benefit of the distinction. It 
must indeed be admitted with shame that the worst feature 
of the war on the British side was their treatment of the 
negroes. 

■ All difficulties were, however, at last surmounted ; and 
on November 25, 1783 (observed still in New York as 
* Evacuation Day'), the British troops left ^ 

-triiTTi- -ii-/- Evacuation 

New York, Washmgton with his forces enter- of New 
ing the city at the same time. Thus was vemb'er^4 
consummated that great disruption of the 1783- 
British race which has placed two English-speaking 
peoples instead of one on the shores of the Atlantic, and 
has shown that, alone as yet among the races of the earth, 
it is equally capable of self-government under republican 
institutions or under a king. We may rejoice in thq 
result, and see God's hand in it. Yet we cannot but feel 
that the disruption was unnecessary; that not only the 
same, but even a less measure of qualified independence 
than that which is now enjoyed by all the larger colo- 
nies of England would have preserved all the American 
colonies in joyful allegiance. The Canadian Dominion 
M. H. P 



210 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

is nearly as populous as the thirteen original States 
when they revolted, and far more extensive than they 
then were. The Australian group of colonies is like- 
wise more extensive, whilst far more distant. New 
England, Virginia, the Carolinas were as anxious to 
remain united with Great Britain in 1774 as any British 
colony in 1874. The very names of ' Whigs' and ^ Tories,' 
applied throughout the war to the contending parties in 
America, show that the struggle was considered a mere 
extension of party divisions in England, rather than a 
war between people and people. 

On December 4 Washington took leave of his officers 
'■ with a heart full of love and gratitude,' devoutly wishing 
,„ , . that their latter days might be ' prosperous and 

Washing- . 

ton's fare- happy,' as their former ones had been ^ glorious 
officers "he "^"^^ honourable.' Leaving them in tears, he 
is thanked crosscd ovcr to Ncw Terscy, on his way to 

by Congress. j j i j 

Philadelphia and to Annapolis, where Congress 
was then sitting. At Philadelphia he gave in to the comp- 
troller of finance a detailed statement in his own hand 
of his expenses during the war; he had renounced from 
the first, it will be recollected, all claim to pay. They 
amounted to 14,479/. iSj. 94//., besides 288/. interest on 
a certain balance due to him December 31, 1776 — a cheap 
price for making a nation. He reached Annapolis on 
December 19, and four days afterwards surrendered his 
commission to Congress. By a strange retribution, the 
President of Congress, General Mifflin, was one of those 
officers who had caballed against him. Mifflin had now to 
offer the thanks of the country to the chief whose tran- 
scendent services he had vainly endeavoured in former 
days to depreciate. 

The war had cost America 135,000,000 dollars, or say 
Cost of the ^"^'^^ 37,000,000/., besides outstanding debts 
^■-'^r. to the amount of 40,000,000 dollars, or say 

9;00o,ooo/. But to Great Britain it had cost 140,000,000/. 




Londotii Zongmans S: Co 



Edw^^ellei-. 



1783. Second Period. 21 r 

of which 115,000,000/. were added to the principal 
of her debt. The debt itself now amounted to nearly 
245,000,000/., bearing something over 9,300,000/. in- 
terest. 

Take it all in all, the result had been by no means 
discreditable to England. She had failed indeed, thank 
God, in a task unworthy of herself, which she „„ 

\v liD-t En- 

should never have undertaken. But whilst en- gbnd had 
gaged in the task she had held her own against ^°"*^' 
three European enemies at once, and in the far East 
against the most formidable native foes she ever met in 
India, the Mysore princes ; and the upshot of it all, beyond 
American independence, had been the loss of a small West 
India island, of almost uninhabited Florida, and of an 
island in the Mediterranean never rightly her own. Whilst 
she had gained a rich town in India, she had almost 
annihilated the fleets of France and Spain. She left 
America bankrupt, France and Spain on the verge of 
bankruptcy, whilst the skill of her great industrial in- 
ventors and the subtle fingers of her artisans were deve- 
loping within her a material prosperity soon to surpass 
anything she had ever known. 

We began by considering the position of the Red man, 
the White man, and the Black man at the com- Results of 
mencement of the struggle. Let us consider it ^J^^ ^]?-^ ^°'' 

*^ the different 

again at its close. races. 

The Red man had unluckily attached himself to the 
losing side. He has taken perhaps a few hundred scalps 
of pale-faces. But from the Susquehannah to ^^^ -jj^g j^^^ 
the Genesee, the Iroquois country has been man driven 
made desolate, and no Indian cornfields will 
ever again wave over it. More to the west the Illinois 
tribes have been subdued by Virginia. Fort Jefferson 
has been established (1780) on the Mississippi, near the 
mouth of the Ohio, a menace to all the Red men of the 



212 The War of American Independence, a.d;. 

far West. Further south, the country of the Cherokees 
and their alHes has been laid waste. 

Wherever the Red man has fallen back, the White man 
has advanced. Counties have been organised (Kentucky 
and Illinois) which will become States, and form more 
States by subdivision. The tide of emigration has flowed 
well over the Alleghanies, and has reached the Mississippi 
at more than one point of its course. Three 
of the\vhite civiliscd powcrs instead of two now divide the 
man. North American continent. The American 

confederation stands henceforth between England and 
Spain. 

The Black man — has he gained or lost "i It seemed 
at first as if he would gain. The mulatto Attucks was 
> s The ^^^ °^ ^^^ victims of the Boston massacre, 

Black man ; and was buricd with honour among the 
fVom th^e^^*^ ' martyrs of liberty.' At the first call tO' 
Americans, ^rms the negroes freely enlisted ; but a meet- 
ing of the general officers decided against their enlist- 
ment in the new army of 1775. The free negroes were 
greatly dissatisfied. Lest they should transfer their ser- 
vices to the British, Washington gave leave to enlist 
them, and it is certain that they served throughout the 
war, shoulder to shoulder with white men. At the battle 
of Monmouth there were more than 700 black men in the- 
field. Rhode Island formed a battalion of negroes, giving 
liberty to every slave enlisting, with compensation to his- 
owner ; and the battalion did good service. But Wash- 
ington always considered the policy of arming slaves ^ a 
moot point,' unless the enemy set the example ; and 
though Congress recommended Georgia and South 
Carolina to raise 3,000 negroes for the war, giving full 
f compensation to the proprietors of such negroes,' South 
Carolina refused to do so, and Georgia had been already 
overrun by the British when the advice was brought. 



^775-84- Second Period. 213 

Notwithstanding the early adoption of a resolution against 
the importation of slaves into any of the thirteen colonics 
{April 6, 1776), Jefferson's fervid paragraph condemning 
the slave-trade, and by implication slavery, was struck out 
of the Declaration of Independence in deference to 
South Carolina and Georgia, and a member from South 
Carolina declared that ' if property in slaves should be 
questioned there must be an end to confederation.' The 
resolution of Congress itself against the slave-trade bound 
no single State, although a law to this effect was adopted 
by Virginia in 1778, and subsequently by all the other 
States ; but this was so entirely a matter of State-concern- 
ment that neither was any prohibition of the trade 
contained in the articles of confederation, nor was any 
.suffered to be inserted in the treaty of peace. The 
feeling against slavery itself was strong in the North. 
Vermont, in forming a constitution for herself in 1777, 
allowed no slavery, and was punished for doing so when 
she applied for admission as a State with the consent 
■of New York, from which she had seceded in 1781; 
the Southern States refusing to admit her for the present, 
lest the balance of power should be destroyed. Massa- 
chusetts and Pennsylvania, directly or indirectly, abolished 
slavery in 1780, New Hampshire in 1783. They were 
followed the next year by Connecticut and Rhode Island, 
so that by 1784 slavery would be practically at an end in 
New England and Pennsylvania. Other States, Virginia, 
Delaware, New Jersey, went no further than to pass laws 
for allowing voluntary emancipation. In strange con- 
trast to these, Virginia is found in 1780 offering a 
negro by way of bounty to any white man enlisting for 
the war. The great Virginians of the day, however — 
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason — were opposed 
to slavery, and large numbers of slaves were emancipated 
in the St?.te. 



214 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

So much and no more did the Black men get from the 
Americans. It seemed at first, when Lord Dunmore issued 
The Black his proclamation offering freedom to all slaves 
man badly ^^.j-^q sliould join the British standard, as if they 
the English, were to get much more from England. Ac- 
cordingly, Governor Rutledge of South Carolina declared 
in 1780 that the negroes offered up their prayers in favour 
of England. But although Lord Dunmore persisted in 
recommending the arming and emancipation of the blacks^ 
neither the ministry at home nor the British officers would 
enter into the plan. Lord George Germain authorised the 
confiscation and saleof slaves, even of those who voluntarily 
followed the troops. Indians were encouraged to catch 
them and bring them in ; they were distributed as prizes, 
and shipped to the West Indies, 2,coo at one time, being 
valued at 250 silver dollars each. The English name 
became a terror to the black man, and when Greene took 
the command they flocked in numbers to his standard. 
We have seen, finally, how the terms of the peace forbade 
the British troops to carry away 'negroes or other pro- 
perty.' Whichever side he might fight for, the poor 
black man earned no gratitude. 

Yet in little more than three-quarters of a century, the 
political complications arising out of the wrongs inflicted 
How the *^^ \v\vi\ were to involve the States that had just 
Black man's -won their independence in a civil war, in com- 

wrongS will . ., ^ • ^ .^ . ^ . ,^ ri- 

avengethem- parison With which the struggle to throw off 
selves. ^YiQ yoke of the mother country would appear- 

almost as child's play. 



1779-^1- -^^^ ^^'^^^ CJiaractcr, 215 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PARADOXES OF THE WAR, AND "ITS TRUE 
CHARACTER. 

Paradoxical as it may seem, two things must equally 
surprise the reader on studying the history of the war of 
American independence, — the first, that Eng- England's 
land should ever have considered it possible to success 

^ ^ seemingly 

succeed in subduing her revolted colonies ; the impossible. 
second, that she should not have succeeded in domg so. 
At a time when steam had not yet baffled the winds, to 
dream of conquering by force of arms on the other side of 
the Atlantic a people of English race numbering between 
3,000,000 and 4,000,000, with something like 1,200 miles 
of seaboard, was surely an act of enormous folly. 
Horace Walpole had wittily said, at the very commence- 
ment of the so-called rebellion, that ' if computed by the 
tract of the country it occupies, we, as so diminutive in 
comparison, ought rather to be called in rebellion to 
that.' We have seen in our own days the difficulties 
experienced by the far more powerful and populous 
Northern States in quelling the secession of the Southern, 
when between the two there was no other frontier than at 
most a river, very often a mere ideal line, and when armies 
could be raised by a hundred thousand men at a time. 
England attempted a far more difficult task with forces 
which, till 1 78 1, never reached 35,000 men, and never 
exceeded 42,075, including ' provincials,' i.e. American 
loyalists. 

Yet it is impossible to doubt that, not once only, but 
repeatedly during the course of the struggle, England 
England was on the verge of triumph. The was often 

*-• _ ° \ on the verge 

American armies were perpetually melting away of triumph. 
before the enemy, directly through the practice of short 



21 6 TJu War of American Independence. a.d. 

enlistments, indirectly through desertions. These deser- 
tions, if they might be often palliated by the straits to uhich 
the men were reduced through arrears of pay and -svant of 
supplies, arose in other cases, as after the retreat from New 
York, from sheer loss of heart in the cause. The main army 
under Washington was seldom even equal in number to 
that opposed to him. In the winter of 1776-77, when his 
troops were only about 4,000 strong, it is difficult to 
imderstand how it was that Sir W. Howe, with more 
than double the number, should have failed to annihilate 
the American army. In the winter of 1777-8 the ' dreadful 
situation of the army for want of provisions ' made Wash- 
ington ' admire ^ that they should not have been excited 
to a general mutiny and desertion. In May 1779 
he hardly knew any resource for the American cause 
except in reinforcements from France, and did not know 
what might be the consequence if the enemy had it 
in their power to press the troops hard in the ensuing 
campaign. In Decemiber of that year his forces were 

* mouldering away daily,' and he considered that Sir 
Henry Clinton, with more than twice his numbers, could 

* not justify remaining inactive with a force so superior.' A 
year later, he was compelled for want of clothing to 
discharge the levies which he had always so much trouble 
in obtaining, and ' want of flour would have disbanded 
the whole army ' if he had not adopted this expedient. 
In March 1781, again, the crisis was 'perilous,' and 
though he did not doubt the happy issue of the con- 
test, he considered that the period for its accomplish- 
ment might be too far distant for a person of his 
years. In April he wrote : ' We cannot transport the 
provisions from the States in which they are assessed 
to the army, because we cannot pay the teamsters 
who will no longer work for certificates. It is equally 
certain that our troops arc approaching fast to naked- 



1779-81. lis true Character. 217 

ness, and that avc have nothing to clothe them with; 
that our hospitals are without medicines, and our sick 
without nutriment except such as well men eat ; and 
that all our public works are at a stand and the artificers 
disbanding. ... It may be declared in a word that we 
are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our 
deliverance must come.' Six months later, when York- 
town capitulated, the British forces still remaining in 
North America after the surrender of that garrison were 
more considerable than they had been as late as February 
1779 • and Sir Henry Clinton even then declared that Avith a 
reinforcement of io,cco men he would be responsible for 
the conquest of America. 

How shall we explain either puzzle ? that England 
should have so nearly missed success, to fail at Puzziestobe 
last ; or that America should have succeeded, explained. 
after having been almost constantly on the brink of 
failure .^ 

The main hope of success on the English side lay in 
the idea that the spirit and acts of resistance to the 
authority of the mother-country were in reality Reliance of 
only on the part of a turbulent minority ; oJ^'.^'the"^''^'' 
that the bulk of the people desired to be loyal, loyalists. 
It is certain indeed that the struggle was, in America 
itself, much more of a civil war than the Americans are 
now generally disposed to admit. In December 1780 
there were 8,954 ' provincials ' among the British forces 
in America, and on March 7, 1781, a letter from Lord 
George Germain to Sir H. Clinton, intercepted by the 
Americans, says : ' The American levies in the king's 
service are more in number than the whole of the 
enlisted troops in the service of the Congress.' As late 
as September i, 1781, there were 7,241. We hear of 
loyal associators ' in Massachusetts, Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania, of ' associated loyalists ' in New York, of a 



21 8 TIic War of American Independence, a.d. 

fort built and maintained by ' associated refugees/ and 
everywhere of 'Tories/ whose arrest Washington is found 
suggesting to Governor Trumbull of Connecticut as. 
early as November 12, 1775. New England may indeed 
be considered to have been cleared of active opposition, 
to the American cause when more than 1,000 refugees, 
left Boston in March 1776 with the British troops. But 
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania remained long; 
full of Tories. By June 28, 1776, the disaffected on Long. 
Island had taken up arms, and after the evacuation of 
New York by Washington a brigade of loyalists was 
raised on the island, and companies were formed in two- 
neighbouring counties to join the king's troops. During 
Washington's retreat through New Jersey ' the inhabi- 
tants, either fi:om fear or disaffection, almost to a man 
refused to turn out.' In Pennsylvania the militia, instead 
of giving any assistance in repelling the British, exulted 
at their approach, and over the misfortunes of their 
countrymen. On the 20th of that month the British 
were ' daily gathering strength from the disaffected.*' 
In 1777 the Tories who joined Burgoyne in his invasions 
from the north are said to have doubled his force. In 
1778 Tories joined the Indians in the devastation of Wyo- 
ming and Cherry Valley ; and although the indiscriminate 
ravages of the British, or of the Germans in their pay, seem 
to have roused the three States above-mentioned to self- 
defence, yet, as late as May 1780 Washington still speaks 
of sending a small party of cavalry to escort La Fayette 
' safely through the Tory settlements ' of New York. Vir- 
ginia, as late as the spring of 1776, was 'alarmed at the. 
idea of independence ; ' Washington admitted that his 
countrymen (of that State) ' from their form of govern- 
ment, and steady attachment heretofore to royalty,' would 
* come reluctantly ' to that idea, but trusted to ' time an 
persecution.' In 1781 the ground for transferring the seat. 



1776-84. J^^ i^'^^c Character. 219 

of war to the Chesapeake was the number of loyahsts in 
that quarter. In the Southern States the division of feel- 
ing was still greater. In the Carolinas, a loyalist regiment 
was raised in a few days in 1776, and again in 1779. In 
Georgia, in South Carolina, the bitterest partisan warfare 
was carried on between the Whig and Tory bands ; and 
a body of New York Tories contributed powerfully to the 
fall of Savannah in 1778 by taking the American forces 
in the rear. 

On the other hand it is unquestionable that in the 
extent and quality of the support v/hich they met with, 
the British generals were cruelly disappointed. Up to 
May 1778 General Howe has declared that in 13 corps 
raised, w^ith a nominal strength of 6,500 men, the whole 
number amounted only to 3,609, of whom only inadequate 
a small proportion were Americans, and that reTh°"f 
' all the force that could be collected in Penn- forded by the 
sylvania, after the most indefatigable exertions °^^ ''' ^" 
during eight months,' was only 974 men. Of the far 
more numerous loyalist levies inthe south, Lord Cornwallis 
speaks in the most disparaging terms. A whole regiment 
in South Carolina marched off on one occasion in a body. 
Speaking of the friends to the British cause in North 
Carolina, he wrote, ' If they are as dastardly and pusillani- 
mous as our friends to the southward, we must leave them 
to their fate.' At the time of the battle of Guilford Court 
House (1781) the idea of such friends 'rising in any 
number and to any purpose had totally failed.' No 'pro- 
vincial' general ever rose to eminence on the British side, 
although more than one was appointed, and it is clear 
that if the struggle was so long protracted, it was not 
through the valour or constancy of the loyalists. 

The real causes of its protraction — though it may be 
hard to an American to admit the fact — lay in the inca- 
pacity of American politicians, and, it must be added, in 



220 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

the supincness and want of patriotism of the American 
Incapacity people. If, indeed, importing into the struggle 
of the Ame- yiews of a later date, we look upon it as one be- 

ncan poll- . -^ , ^ 

ticians. tween two nations, the mismanagement of the 

war by the Americans, on all points save one — the retention 
of Washington in the chief command — ^is seen to have been 
so pitiable from first to last as to be in fact almost unintel- 
ligible. We only understand the case when we see that 
there was no such thing as an American nation in exist- 
ence, but only a number of revolted colonies, jealous of 
one another, and with no tie but that of a common danger. 
Even in the army divisions broke out. Washington, in a 
general order of August i, 1776, says : ' It is with great 
concern that the general understands that jealousies have 
arisen among the troops from the different provinces, 
and reflections are frequently thrown out which can 
only tend to irritate each other and injure the noble 
cause in which we are engaged.' It was seldom that 
much help could be obtained in troops from any State, 
unless that State were immediately threatened by the 
enemy ; and even then these troops would be raised by 
that State for its own defence, irrespectively of the 
general or ' continental army.' ' Those at' a distance 
from the seat of war,' wrote Washington in April 1778, 
' live in such perfect tranquillity that they conceive the 
dispute to be in a manner at an end ; and those near it are 
so disaffected that they serve only as embarrassments.' hi 
January 1779 we find him remonstrating with the Govtrnor 
of Rhode Island because that State had ' ordered several 
battalions to be raised for the defence of the State only, 
and this before proper measures are taken to fill the con- 
tinental regiments.' The different bounties and rates of 
pay allowed by the various States were a constant source 
of annoyance to him. After the first year, the best men were 
not returned to Congress, or did not return to it. Whole 



1777-85- -^^^ ^^'^^'-^ CJiaractcT. 221 

States remained frequently unrepresented. In the winter 
of 1777-78 Congress was reduced to 21 members. But 
even with a full representation it could do little. ' One 
State will comply with a requisition of Congress,' writes 
Washington in 1780, 'another neglects to do it, a third 
executes it by halves, and all differ either in the manner, 
the matter, or so much in point of time, that we are always 
working up hill.' At first Congress was really nothing 
more than a voluntary committee. When the Con- 
federation was completed — which was only, be it re- 
membered, on March i, 1781 — it was still, as Washington 
wrote in 1785, 'little more than a shadow without the 
substance, and the Congress a nugatory body;' or, as it 
was described by a later writer, ' powerless for govern- 
ment, and a rope of sand for union.' 

Like politicians, like people. There was no doubt 
a brilliant display of patriotic ardour at the first flying to 
arms of the colonists. Lexington and Bunker supineness 
Hill were actions decidedly creditable to their -ind want of 

rr-i T • r^ 1 r t patriotism of 

raw troops. The expedition to Canada, fool- the people. 
hardy though it proved, was pursued up to a certain point 
with real heroism. But with it the heroic period of the 
war (individual instances excepted) may be said to have 
closed. There seems little reason to doubt that the re- 
volution would never have been commenced if it had 
been expected to cost so tough a struggle. ' A false esti- 
mate of the power and perseverance of our enemies,' wrote 
James Duane to Washington, 'was friendly to the present 
revolution, and inspired that confidence of success in all 
ranks of people which was necessary to unite them in 
so arduous a cause.' As early as November 1775, Wash- 
ington wrote, speaking of military arrangements, ' Such 
a dearth of public spirit, and such want of virtue, such 
stock-jobbing and fertility in all the low arts to obtain ad- 
vantages of one kind or another ... I never saw before, and 



222 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

pray God's mercy that I may never be witness to again,' 
Such '■ a mercenary spirit ' pervaded the whole of the 
troops, that he should not have been. ' at all surprised at 
any disaster.' At the same date, besides desertions of 
30 or 40 soldiers at a time, he speaks of the practice of 
plundering as so rife that ' no man is secure in his effects, 
and scarcely in his person.' People were ' frightened out 
•of their houses under pretence of those houses being 
ordered to be burnt . . . with a view of seizing the goods;' 
and to conceal the villany more effectually some houses 
^vere actually burnt down. On February 28, 1777, 'the 
scandalous loss, waste, and private appropriation of public 
arms during the last campaign,' had been ' beyond all 
conception.' Officers drew 'large sums under pretence 
of paying their men/ and appropriated them. In one case 
an officer led his men to robbery, offered resistance to a 
brigade-major who ordered him to return the goods, and 
was only with difficulty cashiered. ' Can we carry on the 
war much longer?' Washington asks in 1778 — after the 
treaty with France and the appearance of a French fleet off 
the coast. ' Certainly not, unless some measures can be 
devised and speedily executed to restore the credit of our 
currency, restrain extortion, and punish forestallers.' A 
few days later, 'To make and extort money in every shape 
that can be devised, and at the same time to decry its value, 
seems to have become a mere business and an epidemical 
disease.' On December 30, 1778, ' speculation, peculation, 
and an insatiable thirst for riches seem to have got the 
better of every other consideration, and almost of every 
order of men ; . . . party disputes and personal quarrels 
are the great business of the day ; whilst the momentous 
concerns of an empire, a great and accumulating debt, 
ruined finances, depreciated money, and v.'ant of credit, 
which in its consequences is the want of everything, are 
but secondary considerations.' 



1773-82. Its true CJiaractcr. 223 

After a first loan had been obtained from France and 
spent, and a further one was granted in 1782, so utterly 
unpatriotic and selfish was known to be the temper of the 
people that the loan had to be kept secret, in order not to 
diminish such efforts as might be made by the Americans 
themselves. On July 10 of that year, with New York 
^nd Charleston still in British hands, Washington writes : 
' That spirit of freedom which at the commencement of 
this contest would have gladly sacrificed everything to the 
attainment of its object, has long since subsided, and 
every selfish passion has taken its place.' But indeed 
the mere fact that from the date of the battle of Mon- 
mouth (July 28, 1778), Washington was never supplied 
with sufficient means, even with the assistance of French 
fleets and troops, to strike one blow at the English in 
New York — though these were but very sparingly rein- 
forced during the period — shows an absence of public 
spirit, one might almost say of national shame, scarcely 
conceivable, and in singular contrast with the terrible 
earnestness exhibited on both sides some eighty years 
later in the Secession War. 

Why, then, must we ask on the other side, why did 
did England fail at last ? England fail? 

The English were prone to attribute their ill success 
to the incompetency of their generals. Lord North, with 
his quaint humour, would say, ' I do not know incompe- 
whether our generals will frighten the enemy, l?'^^.y,°^ 

^^ ° •' ' British gene- 

but I know they frighten me whenever I think rais no suffi- 
of them.' When, in 1778, Lord Carlisle came ^^^^^ reason, 
out as commissioner, in a letter speaking of the great 
scale of all things in America, he says : ' We have 
nothing on a great scale with us but our blunders, 
our misconduct, our ruin, our losses, our disgraces and 
misfortunes.' Pitt, in a speech of 1781, aptly described 
the war as having been, on the part of England, ' a series 



224 The War of American Independence. a.d. 

of ineffective victories or severe defeats.' No doubt it is 
difficult to account for Gage's early blunders, for Ho\v3's 
I'epeated failure to follow up his own success or profit by 
his enemy's weakness ; and Cornwallis's movement, justly 
censured by Sir Henry CHnton, in transferring the bulk 
of his army from the far south to Virginia, within march- 
ing distance of Washington, opened the way to that crown- 
ing disaster at Yorktown, without which it is by no means 
impossible that Georgia and the Carolinas might have 
remained British. But no allowance for bad generalship 
can account for the failure of the British. Washington 
and Greene appear to have been the only two American 
generals of marked ability, though they unquestionably 
derived great advantage from the talents of their foreign 
aUies, La Fayette, Pulaski, Steuben, Rochambeau, — and 
Washington was more than once out-manoeuvred. Gates 
evidently owed his one signal triumph to enormous supe- 
riority of numbers on his own ground, and was as signally 
defeated, under circumstances infinitely less creditable to 
him than those of Burgoyne's surrender. Lee's vaunted 
abilities came to nothing. 

Political incapacity was of course charged upon 
ministers as another cause of disaster ; and no doubt 
their miscalculation of the severity of the 
Saciiy^ struggle was almost childish. When Parlia- 
no sufficient ment met in the autumn of 1776 — i.e. after the 
Declaration of Independence had gone forth 
to the world — it was held out in the king's speech that 
another campaign would be sufficient to end the war, 
whilst in spite of all the warnings of the Opposition, they 
persisted in blinding themselves to the force of the tempta- 
tions which must inevitably bring down France, if not 
Spain, into the lists against them, until the treaties of these 
powers with America were actually concluded. The forces 
sent out were miserably inadequate for a war on so large 



1776-S0. Its true CJiaracter. 225 

a scale, — 'too many to make peace, too few to make war,' 
as Lord Chatham told the ministry. The English generals 
complained almost as bitterly as the American of the want 
of adequate reinforcements, and the best of them. Sir Henry 
Clinton, is found writing (1779) in a strain which might be 
mistaken for Washington's, of his spirits being 'worn out' 
by the difficulties of his position. But no mistakes in the 
management of the war by British statesmen can account 
for their ultimate failure. However great British misman- 
agement may have been, it was far surpassed by American. 
Until Robert Morris took the finances in hand, the admi- 
nistration of them was beneath not only contempt but 
conception. There was nothing on the British side equal 
to that caricature of a recruiting system, in which different 
bounties were offered by Congress, by the States, by the 
separate towns, so as to make it the interest of the intend- 
ing soldier to delay enlistment as long as possible in 
order to sell himself to the highest bidder ; to that carica- 
ture of a war establishment, the main bulk of which 
broke up every twelvemonth in front of the enemy, which 
was only paid, if at all, in worthless paper, and left almost 
habitually without supplies. To mention one fact only, 
commissions in British regiments on American soil con- 
tinued to be sold for large sums, whilst Washington's 
officers were daily throwing up theirs, many from sheer 
starvation. On the whole, no better idea can be had of 
the nature of the struggle on the American side, after the ' 
first heat of it had cooled down, than from the words of 
Count de Rochambeau, writing to Count de Vergennes^ 
July 10, 1780 : ' They have neither money nor credit ; their 
means of resistance are only momentary, and called forth 
when they are attacked in their own homes. They then 
assemble for the moment of immediate danger and defend 
themselves.' 

A far more important cause in determining the 
M. H. Q 



2 26 The War of American Independence, a.d. 

ultimate failure of the British was the aid afforded by 
T , France to America, followed by that of Spain 

Importance ' _ -' ^ 

of the and Holland. It was impossible for England 

foreign aid ^ ^ • i. j 

supplied to to reconqucr a contment, and carry on war at 
America. ^^ same time with the three most powerful 
naval states of Europe. The instincts of race have 
tended on both the English and the American side to 
depreciate the value of the aid given by France to the 
colonists. It may be true that Rochambeau's troops 
which disembarked on Rhode Island in July 1780 did 
not march till July 178 1, — that they were blockaded soon 
after their arrival, threatened with attack from New 
York, and only disengaged by a feint of Washington's on 
that city. But more than two years before their arrival 
Washington wrote to a member of Congress, ' France, 
by her supplies, has saved us from the yoke thus far/ 
The treaty with France alone was considered to afford a 
' certain prospect of success,' — to ' secure' American in- 
dependence. The arrival of D'Estaing's fleet, although 
no troops joined the American army, and nothing eventu- 
ally was done, determined the evacuation of Philadelphia. 
The discipline of the French troops when they landed in 
1780 set an example to the Americans ; chickens and pigs 
walked between the lines without being disturbed. The 
recruits of 1780 could not have been armed without 50 
tons of ammunition supplied by the French. In Sep- 
tember of that year, Washington, writing to the French 
envoy, speaks of the ' inability' of the Americans to expel 
the British from the south 'unassisted, or perhaps even to 
stop their career,' and he writes in similar terms to Con- 
gress a few days later. To depend 'upon the resources 
of the country, unassisted by foreign loans,' he writes to 
a member of Congress two months later, ' will, I am con- 
fident, be to lean upon a broken reed.' In January 1781, 
writing to Colonel Laurens, the American envoy in Paris, 



1 781-3. J^^ i^'^ii^ Chai^actcr. 22/ 

he presses for ' an immediate, ample, and efficacious suc- 
cour in money' from France, for the maintenance on the 
American coasts of ^ a constant naval superiority,' and for 
'an additional succour in troops/ And since the assist- 
ance so requested was in fact granted in every shape, 
and the surrender of Yorktown was obtained by the co- 
operation both of the French army and fleet, we must 
hold that Washington's words were justified by the 
event. 

The real cause why England yielded in The war 
I782--3 to her revolted colonies was probably the English 

this : The English nation at large had never ^?f-^°^ , 

° ° thoroughly- 

realised the nature of the struggle ; when it understood 

,. , . - , . its character. 

did, it refused to carry it on. 

Enormous ignorance no doubt prevailed at the begin- 
ning of the struggle as to the North American colonies. 
They had been till then entirely overshadowed ^^^.j , 
by the West Indies, which were perhaps at that puiarity of 

, . ^r- T 1 'I the war the 

time the greatest source of English commercial result of 
wealth ; and the time was not far past when, ignorance, 
it is said, they were supposed like the latter to be chiefly 
inhabited by negroes. The prominence of the slave- 
colonies seems to have associated the idea of colonies 
with that of absolute government. Englishmen did not 
generally realise the existence in North America of vast 
countries inhabited by communities of their own race, 
which enjoyed in general a larger measure of self-govern- 
ment than the mother-country herself. That a colony 
should resist the mother-country seemed in a manner 
preposterous. It appears certain, therefore, that when 
the war at first broke out it was popular, and that th.e 
king and Lord North, as has been already stated, were 
themselves amazed at the loyal addresses which it called 
forth. 

But the early resort to the aid of German mercenaries 

Q2 



22S The War of American Independence. a.d, 

showed that this popularity was only skin-deep, — that the 
heart of the masses was not engaored in the 



The popu- 
larity of the war. The very employment of these mer- 

but skin- cenaries, as well as of the Indian auxiliaries 

^^^^- of the royal forces, tended to lower the 

character of the war in English eyes. When Chatham, 

in his scathing invectives, would speak of the ministers* 

' traffic and barter with every little pitiful German prince 

that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles,' or of 

their sending ' the infidel savage — against whom ? against 

your Protestant brethren, to lay waste their countr)^, to 

desolate their dwellings, and extirpate their race and 

name,' he might not carry with him the votes of the 

House of Lords, but his words would burn their way into 

English hearts. 

That the war with the American colonies themselves 

was repugnant to the deepest feelings of the nation is 

proved by contrast through the sudden burst 
with feelings of warlike Spirit which followed (1778-9) on the 
wa^tith"^^' outbreak of war with France and Spain. A 
France and few days before the French treaty with America 

was known, Horace Walpole had written ta 
Mason that the new levies ' don't come, consequently 
they will not go.' By July of the same year he writes to 
Sir Horace Mann: 'The country is covered with camps.' 
In 1776 the king had reviewed the Guards on Wimbledon 
Common, and pulled off his hat to them before their 
departure for America. He had now (1779) ^o review 
volunteers. The passionate interest which is hence- 
forth taken in so much of the struggle as is carried on 
with foreign foes, Keppel's scarcely deserved popularity, 
the riotous popular joy on his acquittal, the outburst of 
universal rejoicing over Rodney's victories, show a 
totally different temper to that brought out by either 
victory or defeat in what was now felt to be a dread civil 



^775-^3- ^^^ ^^'^^^ Character. 229 

war with our American kinsmen. Hence it was, no 
doubt, that after the surrender of Yorktown hostihties 
were practically at an end with America, whilst the 
Jiaval warfare with France and Spain was carried on for 
another twelvemonth, and that the signing of provisional 
articles of peace with the United States preceded by- 
two months that of similar articles with France and 
Spain, the armistice with Holland being of still later 
date. It may even be conjectured that the outbreak 
of war with France and Spain, instead of incensing 
the mind of the English people against the Americans, 
rather gave different objects to their angry passions, and 
tended to diminish their bitterness towards the colonists. 
It must have been a kind of relief to Englishmen to find 
themselves fighting once more against those whom they 
considered hereditary enemies, against men who did not 
speak their own mother-tongue ; and the wholly unpro- 
r'oked character of these foreign hostilities would soften 
men's feelings towards the stubbornness of those colonists 
of their own blood, who after all asked only to be let 
alone. 

Substantially indeed — although colonial independence 
would no doubt have been achieved sooner or later — the 
more we look into the events of the war of 

r, 1 1 1111 The war ia 

1775-83, the more, perhaps, shall we be con- fact a duel 
vinced that it resolves itself into a duel between woT^f^!..^„ 

Wasningtcn 

two Jiien who never saw each other in the and George 
flesh, Washington and George III. 

Take Washington out of the history on the American 
side, and it is impossible to conceive of American success. 
It is barely possible that under Greene — the American 
one general after Washington's own heart, who success im- 
wrote to him from his command in the south, without 
' We fight, get beaten, and fight again'— the Washington, 
army itself might have been commanded with an ability 



230 TJic War of American Independence, a.d. 

which would enable it to withstand its British opponents. 
But neither Greene nor any other general possessed that 
w^eight of personal character which fixed the trust of 
Congress and people on Washington, maintained him in 
authority through all reverses, and enabled him to criticise 
with such unflinching frankness the measures of Congress. 
Take, on the other hand, George III. out of the 
history on the British side, and it is beyond question that 
Geor<Te III if the War had ever broken out, it would have 
the centre of been put a stop to long before its ultimate 

English re- - „ _ , . , . 1 ,- 1 , , 

slstance to failure. In him alone is to be found the reai 
in^e^pen-^ Centre of resistance to American independence. 
dence. It is iiow w'cll knowii that at least from the 

beginning of 1778, if not from the end of 1775, Lord North 
was anxious to resign, and desirous of conciliation, and 
that it was only through the king's constant appeals to 
his sense of honour not to 'desert' him, that the minister 
was prevailed upon to remain in office. * Till I see things 
change to a more favourable position,' the king wrote to 
Lord North as late as May 19, 1780, ' I shall not feel at 
liberty to grant your resignation ; ' and it was only on 
March 20, 1781, that Lord North at last compelled his 
master to accept it. Three ideas were fixed in the king's 
mind, the first of which was a delusion, the second a mis- 
take, and the third contrary to all principles of constitu- 
tional government, ist. He had persuaded himself that 
the country was radically opposed to American independ- 
ence. In January 1778, he opposes conciliatory measures, 
lest they should ' dissatisfy this country, which so cheer- 
fully and handsomely carries on the contest.' In the 
autumn of the year he is certain that ' if ministers show 
that they never will consent to the independence of Ame- 
rica, the cry will be strong in their favour.' Two years 
later, he ' can never suppose this country so far lost to all 



1 7/8- 9- li^ ^f'^^^ CJiaractcr. 231 

ideas of self-importance as to be willing to grant Ame- 
rican independence.' 2nd. He was convinced (and this 
conviction, it must be admitted, was shared by some of 
the strongest opponents of the war), that if the indepen- 
dence of the North American colonies were acknow- 
ledged, all the others, as well as Ireland, would be lost. 
* If any one branch of the empire is allowed to throw off 
its dependency, the others will inevitably follow the ex- 
ample.' '■ Should America succeed . . . the West Indies 
must follow, not in independence, but dependence on 
America. Ireland would soon follow, andthis island reduce 
itself to a poor island indeed.' 3rd. He would not allow 
the Opposition to rule. ' He would run any personal risk 
rather than submit to the Opposition . . . rather than be 
shackled by these desperate men he would lose his crown.' 
If he authorises the attempt at a coalition (1779), it is ^pro- 
vided it be understood that every means are to be em- 
ployed to keep the empire entire, to prosecute the present 
just and unprovoked war in all its branches with the 
utmost vigour, and that his Majesty's past measures be 
treated with proper respect,' i.e., provided the Opposition 
are ready to stultify themselves, and do all that the king 
thinks right, and admit that all for which they have con- 
tended is wrong. Before the spectacle of such narrow 
obstinacy, it is difficult not to sympathise with an expres- 
sion of Fox in one of his letters, ' It is intolerable to 
think that it should be in the power of one blockhead to 
do so much mischief.' 

Between these two men — it may be conceded, equally 
sincere, equally resolute — but the one reasoning, like the 
madman that he was to be, from false premises, in such a 
self-deluded as to the feelings of his people, duel, Wash- 

_ r c ^ ington must 

anticipating consequences which a centur}^ sees win. 

yet unrealised, and the other with eyes at all times almost 



232 The Wa7' of American Independence, a.d. 

morbidly open to all the gloomier features of his cause, 
void of all self-delusion, — the one conceiving himself 
lustified in imposing the dictates of his own self-will 
on every minister whom he might employ, entitled alike 
to chain an unwilling friend to office, and to shut the 
door of office to opponents except on the terms of sur- 
rendering all their principles — the other always ready to 
accept the inevitable, to make the most use of the least 
means, to curb himself for the sake of his cause in all 
things, except fearless plainspeaking — the one, finally, 
resolved only to hinder the making a nation, the other 
resolved to make one, if anyhow possible — the issue of 
the contest could not be doubtful, if both lives were pro- 
longed. From that contest the one emerged as the mad 
king who threw away a continent from England; the 
other as the father of the American nation. 

The common consent of mankind has ranked Wash- 
ington among its great men ; and although the title may 
Character of have been fully justified by the course of his 
Washing- ^.jyjj jjfg whether in or out of office, after the 

ton s great- . ^_ ' 

ness. termination of the War of Independence, it is 

hardlytobe doubted that itwould freely have been accorded 
to him had his career been cut short immediately after the 
resignation of his military command. Yet of those who 
have enjoyed the title, few, if any, have ever earned it by 
actions of less brilliancy. The fame of no conspicuous 
victory is bound up with Washington's name. His one 
dashing exploit was the surprise of Trenton; his one 
victory, that of Monmouth, had no results; his most con- 
siderable battle, that of Brandywine, was a severe defeat. 
His greatness as a general consisted in doing much with 
little means, never missing an opportunity, rising superior 
to every disaster. When he had recovered Boston he 
could say, ' I have been here months together with . . . 



17/8-9. J^^ i^'^^c Character. 233 

not thirty rounds of musket cartridges to a man, and 
have been obhged to submit to all the insults of the 
enemy's cannon for want of powder, keeping what little 
we had for pistol distance . . . We have maintained our 
ground against the enemy under this want of powder, 
and we have disbanded one army and recruited another, 
within musket shot of two-and-twenty regiments, the 
flower of the British army, whilst our force has been but 
little if any superior to theirs, and at last have beaten 
them into a shameful and precipitate retreat out of a 
place the strongest by nature on this continent, and 
strengthened and fortified at an enormous expense.' 

The character of Washington as a commander re- 
calls in various respects that of Wellington. In both 
we see the same dogged perseverance under Washington 
all the various phases of fortune ; the same f"*^ Weiimg- 

^ ' ton corn- 

strict discipline, hardening readily into stern- pared. 

ness, coupled with the same careful consideration 
for the wants and welfare of the soldier ; the same 
patient, constant attention to every detail of military 
organisation ; the same ability in maintaining a defensive 
warfare against an enemy superior in force, with the same 
quickness to strike a blow in any unguarded quarter ; the 
same unflinching frankness in exposing the evils of 
the military administration of the day. Many of Wel- 
lington's despatches from the Peninsula might almost 
have been written by Washington. The difference be- 
tween them, while the war lasts, is mainly this, that in 
Wellington the soldier is all, whilst in Washington the 
statesman and the patriot are never merged in the soldier. 
Hence, whilst in after life W^ellington had to serve his 
apprenticeship as a statesman after ceasing to be a 
soldier, and often bungled over his new craft, Washing- 
ton's after-hfe was simply that of a statesman who had 



234 '^^^^ War of American Independence. 

been called to take up arms and had laid them down 
again. In their supreme quality of simple steadfastness 
to duty, both finally met. 

In short, though England had never a more successful 

Washington ^^^ than Washington, it is impossible not to 

a thorough feel, in studying his character, that no more 

° ■ typical Englishman ever lived; that he belongs 

to us as essentially as our Shakespeare and our Milton. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
1783. 



State of the ^^'^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^'^^'- ^ '^'^'^ glancc at the state of 
world. the world at the close of the war. 

Except that an independent state had grown up for 
the first time since the downfall of the Aztec and Inca 
Th b 1 -e crnpires on the American continent, and that 
of power but England had been politically lessened, the 
affected by balance of power had been little affected by 
the war. ^^^ \\2,x. France had one West Indian island 
more, Holland one Indian settlement less. Spain had 
recovered Minorca and the Floridas. But she was 
irrevocably shut out from one great object of her ambition, 
the eastern half of the Mississippi basin. 

It might almost be said that Europe had stood still 
to watch the past struggle. Among the sovereigns, 
New oliti- ^^ '-'^^^ changes had been the death of the 
cai events Empress Maria Theresa in 1780, leaving her 
oius!d7of son Joseph II. still on the throne, and that 
the war. ^f Joseph I. of Portugal, succeeded by his 
daughter Maria I. There had been, in the early years 
of the war, some colonial warfare between Spain and 



State of the J Vorld /;/ 1 7 8 3 . 235 

Portugal (1776-7), and a little later some quarrelling 
in Germany between Austria and Prussia (1777-9), about 
the succession to the electorate of Bavaria, terminated 
by the mediation of Russia in favour of the Prussian 
candidate, Austria receiving some small sop in the way 
of territory. The Pope (Pius VI.) had astonished the 
world by a visit to Vienna (1782), whilst in Geneva, 
where measures taken against Rousseau and his w^orks 
had led to quarrels between the popular party and the 
dominant aristocracy, there had been a joint intervention 
of French, Piedmontese, and Bernese in favour of the latter 
(1782). Russia was engaged in seizing the Crimea (1783). 
In the Netherlands, the republican party, encouraged by 
the success of the Americans, w^as agitating to curtail the 
authority of the Stadtholder. 

But there had been events which had occupied men's 
minds far more than the quarrels of princes. other events. 

At the age of 86, Voltaire had been seized with the 
wish to see Paris again. In February 1778, after many 
years' absence, he made his appearance, and Voltaire's re- 
nothing else was thought of but Voltaire, /pebmar"'^^'^ 
Crowds stood on the quay all the day outside 1778). 
his door. The quasi-regal cry of 'Long live Voltaire!' 
which greeted him wherever he went, was often mixed 
with a more ominous one, ' Down with kings ! Long live 
philosophers ! ' Franklin brought him his grandson to 
bless, and the great mocker of the age pronounced over 
the child's head the two great words of heavenly and 
earthly faith, ' God and freedom.' His greatest triumph 
was, however, at the theatre (March 30), where one of his 
latest pieces, ' Ir^ne,' was represented. He was crowned 
with laurel, almost carried in ladies' arms to his coach, 
which was drawn by men to his door, amidst such shoAvers 
of bouquets that he exclaimed, ' My children, do you wish 
to smother me under roses ? ' 



236 TJie War of American hidependence. 

Two months later he was dead, and the Roman 
Cathohc parochial clergy were refusing to bury him, so 
^ . , that a priest, his nephew, had to carry the 
death, May body off sccretly to be buried in a monastery 
30, 177 • ^Q which he belonged, and the prior of which 
was in turn deprived of his office for allowing the cere- 
mony to be performed. So fearfully wide was the gap 
between the Church and popular feeling. 

In the same month Rousseau, whose failing sight no 
longer enabled him to copy music for a liveli- 

j^oussGn.u s 

death, July liood, accepted from the Marquis de Girardin 
1, 1778. ^i^g offer of a cottage at Ermenonville near 

Paris. A few weeks later he, too, was dead, hoping that 
* the Almighty would receive him into His heaven.' 

Financially France was rushing on to ruin. After five 
years of seeming financial success, Necker had left office 
in 1 78 1, as has been said before, leaving behind him 
a famous report, known as the ^ Compte Rendu,' the first 
balance-sheet of French finance ever yet published, 
. but already out of date, as it applied to the 
ruin of month of January 1778. Necker had himself 

France. increased the French debt by over 21,000,000/.; 

his successor added 12,000,000/. more. In 1783 the 
finances were being handed over to the utterly reckless 
Calonne, who in three years would add 32,000,000/., 
and whose entire breakdown would bring on successively 
an Assembly of Notables, the States General, and the 
Revolution. 

Meanwhile the heroes of the day in France were the 
young officers who had served in the American war ; fore- 
The heroes ^^lost of all. La Fayette, Washington's friend- 
of the day in But there are already, practising at the bar ot 
then of the country towns, or obscurely at that of Paris 
future. itself, — in attorneys' offices, men who in a few 

years more will come before Europe as the leaders of a 



State of the Worldiii 1783. 237 

French Revolution ; and behind them sons of innkeepers, 
plasterers, labourers, lackeys, and others — a few of them 
now simple soldiers or non-commissioned officers, who will 
rise to military fame, become, many of them, the members 
of a new nobility, and in one or two instances ascend a 
throne; whilst a single Corsican family will give to 
Europe an emperor, three kings, and a queen. 

The hour of Germany's political wakening is yet far 
off. But her literature is rising fast to meri- Germany ; 
dian splendour, and her poets and philosophers ^^^[h^Ame- 
have mostly been enthusiastic in the American rica. 
cause. 

In England there is little to be noticed since the 
opening of the war, beyond what has been already re- 
ferred to. Dr. Johnson has published his 
last work (1781), and will have this year that thelurrary 
paralytic stroke which will be the forerunner of world. 
his death in the next. A new poet, Crabbe, patronised by 
Burke, has published his first work, the ' Library ^ (1781), 
but its success was far surpassed by that of another poem 
now scarcely known except by name, Darwin's ' Botanic 
Garden.' Robert Burns has been locally known in 
Ayrshire for a rhymester, but has published nothing as 
yet ; Walter Scott will go next year to college. 

In the political sphere the Prince of Wales has just 
come of age, and will soon be the patron of the political 
opposition. Before the year is out (Decem- The political 
ber 19,) Pitt, 24 years of age, will be chan- ■^°^^^- 
cellor of the exchequer and premier, and in him will be 
typified the spirit of resistance to that coming Revolu- 
tion which is now casting its shadow before it on the 
Continent. 

America finally, after seeing her independence re- 
cognised this year by Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and 
Russia, all of which will conclude treaties with her as 



22,S TJie War of Avierican Independence, 

well as Prussia two years hence, will flounder for four 
years more in the slough of despond of her 
Confederation, through repeated mutinies and 
a New England insurrection, until she reaches firm ground 
at last in her Constitution (September 17, 1787), under 
which Washington will become the first President, no 
more of Congress, but of the United States. 



239 



INDEX. 



ACA 

A CADIANS, their expulsion from 

^*- Nova Scotia, 62 

Adams, John, appointed peace com- 
missioner for France, 165 

Adams, Samuel, 69, 8c, 84, 104 

Africa, slave trade in, 57 ; colonial 
power of, 90 

Algonquin language, 6 

Allen, Ethan, takes Ticonderoga, 105 

America, races inhabiting colonies 
in, 2 ; commencement of the war of 
Independence, 103; reception of the 
proclamation against rebellion in, 
114 : secretly aided by France and 
Spain, n8 ; disasters in Canada, 120; 
miserable state of the army, 121, 
147 ; enthusiastic reception of the 
Declaration of Independence, 126 ; 
the need of union still scarcely 
felt in, 127 ; postponement of the 
plan of federation, 127 ; discourage- 
ment of the troops, 129 ; Congress 
raises a new army, 131 ; result of 
the campaign of 1776, 132; Congress 
adopts the scheme of confederation, 
146 : treaty with France, 149 ; re- 
joicings over the French treaty in, 
153 ; reception of the Conciliatory 
Bills, 154 ; neglected state of the 
army, 172 ; supineness of, 173 : sub- 
serviency to France, 194 ; rejoicings 
at the surrender of Yorktown in, 198; 
her weakness, 194-202 ; preliminary 
articles of peace with England, 204 ; 
discontent of the army, 207 : cessa- 
tion of hostilities, 208 ; cost of the 
war, 210; incapacity of politicians 
in, 220 : want of patriotism in, 221 ; 
importance of its foreign aid, 226 ; 
success of the war due to Washing- 
ton, 229 



BOS 

America, North, discovery of, 23 ; per- 
manent settlement of Englishmen in, 

^3 , . . . 

Andre, Major, his trial and conviction 
as a spy, 184 

Andros, Sir Edmund, as governor of 
New England, 54 

Arkwright, loi 

Arnold, Benedict, attempts to storm 
Quebec, 115; disastrous results of 
his expedition to Canada, 120; de- 
feats the British at Stillwater, 143 ; 
is found guilt}'- of treason, 183 ; in 
Connecticut, 196 

Asiento, the, 56 

Austria, in 1775, 92 ; proposes a peace 
congress at Vienna, 187 



■pACON'S Rebellion, 30 _ _ 

■^ Bacon, Nathaniel, hostilities of, 30 

Baltimore, Lord, promoter of colonisa- 
tion, 32 ; as governor of Maryland, 
33 ; his disputes regarding the Vir- 
ginian Government, 34 

Bancroft on the Indians, 4 

Baum, Colonel, his defeat at Benning- 
ton, 140 

Beaumarchais, 119 

Bellamont, Lord, governor of New 
York, 41 

Bennington, battle of, 140 

Berkelej^ Sir William, as governor of 
Virginia, 29 ; as governor of New 
Jersey, 41 

Black man, the, 55 ; effect of the war 
on, 212 ; bad treatment by the Eng- 
lish, 214 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 103 

Boston, riots at, 71 : troops sent to, 78 
convention at, 78 ; massacre at, 79; 



240 



Index. 



BOS 

destruction of tea at, 81 ; Port Act, 
82 ; invested by colonists, 105 ; 
evacuated by the British troops, 117 

Boswell. loi 

Braddock, General, his defeat by the 
French, 61 

Bradford, Governor, 47 

Brandywine, battle of, 141 

Breton, Cape, colonised by the French, 
20 

Brindley, 102 

Bunker's Hill, battle of, 107 

Burgoyne, General, commander of an 
expedition from Canada, 140 ; is de- 
feated at Stillwater, 142 ; and sur- 
renders at Saratoga, 143 

Burke, 88 ; his plan of Economic Re- 
form, 178 

Burns, Robert, 237 

Bute, Lord, 71 



c 



ABOT, John, his discoveries, 22 
Cabot, Sebastian, his discoveries, 

Calvert, Sir George, see Baltimore, 

Lord 
Camden, battle of, 180 
Campaign of 1776, its results, 132 
Canada, population of French in, 21 ; 
conquest of, by the English, 63 ; in- 
vasion of, 114 ; American disasters 
in, 120 ; British expedition from, 
139, 140 
Canonicus, 46 

Carleton, Sir Guy, appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the English 
Army, 201 ; his conduct regarding 
the slave question, 209 
Carolina, South, invasion of, 161 
Carolinas, attempt at colonisation of, 
by the Spanish, 15 ; early charters of, 
34 ; peculiar characteristic of their 
foundation, 35 ; colonists break up 
Indian civilisation in Florida, 36 ; 
slavery in, 36 ; become colonies, 37 ; 
dissolution of colonial government 
in 119 
Carteret, Sir George, governor of New 

Jersey, 41 
Cartier, Jacques, his discoveries, 17 
Charles I., 28, 51 

Charleston, taken by the British, 171 
Chatham, Earl of, see Pitt, William 
Cherokees, 13 ; defeat of, 167 
Choiseul, Duke de, French prime 
minister, 76, 99 



CON 

Clark, George Rogers, invades the 
north-western territory, 167 

Clayborne, 33 ; leader of the republicrin 
party, 34 

Clinton, Sir H., defeats the Americans 
at Long Island, 128 ; evacuates 
Philadelphia, 156 

Coligny, Admiral, 15 

Colonies of America, i ; races inhabit- 
ing them, 2 ; Northern and Southern 
English groups, 23, 24 ; distinction 
between these groups, 25 ; the united 
colonies of New England, 50 ; his- 
tory of from 1 748-1 764, 58-64 ; loy- 
alty and disaffection in, 64 ; suffer- 
ings under the Navigation Laws in, 
65 : coming causes pre-figured, 66 ; 
other causes of discontent in, 67 ; 
trade discouraged in, 67 ; mutual 
complaints between the mother 
country and the colonies, 68 ; at- 
tempt of English (jovernment to 
raise a revenue from, 68 ; pro- 
test against the Revenue Act, 69 ; 
rejoicings at the Repeal of the 
Stamp Act, 74 ; refusal to comply 
with the requirements of the Quar- 
terly Act, 75 ; renewed agitation in, 
76 ; troops sent to, 78 ; spread of non- 
importation agreements, 79 ; repres- 
sive measures by the English Par- 
liament against, 82 ; raising of troops 
in, 86 ; extension of the prohibition 
of trade, 88 ; defence of, 89 ; colonial 
powers in 1775, 90 ; reception of the 
proclamation against rebellion, 114; 
dissolution of governments, 119 

Committees of correspondence, 80 

Commonwealth, the, submission of the 
colonies to, 29 

Conciliatory Bills, 150; their recep- 
tion, 154 

Concord, battle of, 104 

Confederation, its first introduction in 
Congress, 127 ; its adoption by Con- 
gress, 146 ; signed by several states in 
1778,157; finally signed in 1781, 189 

Congress, in New York, 71 ; continen- 
tal congress in Philadelphia, 84, 106 ; 
attempts at conciliation by, in ; 
second petition of, in ; important 
resolutions cf, 118; raises a new- 
army, 131 ; adopts the scheme of 
confederation, 146 ; impotency of, 
147 ; reinforces the army, 153 ; re- 
ception of the Conciliatory Bills by, 
154 ; increased impotency of, 159 ; 



Index. 



241 



CON 

solicits French protection, 160 ; ap- 
points peace commissioners, 165 ; 
threatened by mutineers, 208 

Connecticut colony, 49 

Continental congress, first, 84 ; second, 
106 

Convention at Boston, 78 

Conway, as inspector of the army, 148 

|k>rn riots of 1775, 96 

Comwallis, Lord, 132 ; his defeat at 
Princeton, 136 ; his victory at Cam- 
den against Gates, 180 ; his march 
into North Carolina choked, 182 ; 
advances into North Carolina, 191 ; 
defeats Greene at Guilford Court 
House, 192 ; retreats to Wilming- 
ton, 192 ; in Virginia, 194 ; with- 
draws to Yorktown, 194 ; his sur- 
render at Yorktown, 197 

Council of Plymouth, 43 

Cowpens, the, battle of, 190 

Cowper, loi 

Crabbe, 237 

Creeks, 13 

Crown Point, surrender of, ro6 

Culpeper, Lord, governor of Virginia, 
30 



■r)EANE, Silas, 118 

^-^ Declaration of Independence, pro- 
position of, 119 ; its adoption by Con- 
gress in 1776, 122 ; its unfairness, 
124 ; looked upon as a declaration of 
war, 126 ; its influence on foreign 
countries, 126 ; its enthusiastic re- 
ception in America, 126 ; its recep- 
tion in England, 133 

Declaratory Act, 74 

De Kalb, 180 

Delaware colony, 43 

Denmark in 1775, 93 

Dickinson, John, 127 

Dumouriez, 99 

Dunmore, Lord, governor of Virginia, 
no, 116 

Dunning, his resolutions, 178 

Dutch colonies in America, 39 



■prCONOMIC Reform, 178 

■'-' Eliot, John, 52 

Endicott, John, 48 

England, colonies of, in America, 23, 
24 ; its monopoly of the Asiento, 56 ; 
its support of slavery, 57 ; defeats 
the French, 62 ; conquest of Canada, 



FRE 

by the English, 63 ; complaints of 
the colonists against, 67 ; effect of 
the complaints on, 68 ; social con- 
dition of, before the war, 100-103 '• 
at war with Spain, 167 ; events in 
1780, 176 ; the war everywhere dis- 
astrous to, 199 ; preliminary articles 
of peace with America, 204 ; what 
she gained by the war, 211 ; success 
in the war seeminsly impossible, 
215 ; its reliance on the loyalists, 
217 ; reasons for its failure, 223 ; 
early popularity of the war the re- 
sult of ignorance. 227 ; political and 
literary world after the war, 237 

Estaing, Admiral Count d', his en- 
gagement with Lord Howe, 157 ; 
repulsed before Savannah, 170 

Europe, colonial power of, 9c ; in 1775, 
91 ; war in, in 187 1, 185 ; political 
events outside the war, 234 

Eutaw Springs, battle of, 195 



"piVE Nations, the, 13 

■*■ Flaxman, 102 

Florida, discovery of, 14 ; settlement 
of, 15 

Fox, opposed to the American war, 193 

France, colonial power of, 90 ; in 1775, 
91 ; the only power with Spain 
directly interested in the American 
struggle, 93 ; the intellectual centre 
of Europe, 94 ; the new reign a 
hopeful one, 96 ; grounds for its sym- 
pathy with America, 97 ; its admira- 
tion for England, 97 ; influence of the 
partition of Poland on, 99 ; secretly 
aids America, 118 ; ready to treat 
with America, 147 ; treaty with 
America, 149 ; state of affairs in 
1778, 149 ; war declared against 
England, 153 ; its successes against 
the English, 158, 186 ; war conven- 
tion with Spain, i66 ; anxious for 
peace, 187 ; return c f the troops to 
Europe, 206 ; financial ruin of, 236 ; 
its heroes of the future, 236 

Franklin, Benjamin, his connection 
with ' King George's war,' 58 ; author 
of the first military organisation in 
the colonies, 59 ; in Paris, 133 

Free trade in America, 118 

French in America, their colonies, 16 ; 
early discoveries and settlements of, 

17 ; missionaries and adventurers of, 

18 ; their progress in the Mississippi 



242 



Index. 



FRE 

valley, 19 ; extension of colonisation 
in New York, 20 ; population of her 
colonies, 21 ; defeat of, at Pittsburg, 
62 ; successes in war, 62 

French and Indian war, 59 

Frobisher, Martin Allen, his attempts to 
found a settlement in Hudson Straits, 
23 



r^ AGE, General, as governor ot 

^-^ Massachusetts, 86 ; defeated at 
Lexington, 104 ; proclaims martial 
law, 106 

Gainsborough, loi 

' Gaspee,' burning of the, 80 

Gates, Horatio, General, defeats Bur- 
goyne, 141 • 144 ; is defeated at Cam- 
den, 180 

George HI., his character, 100 ; his 
speech al the opening of Parliament 
in 1782, 205 ; the centre of English 
resistance to American Independ- 
ence, 230 

Georgia, the last founded colony, 37 ; 
its prosperity, 38 ; hostilities with 
Spain, 38 

Germain, Lord George, 113, 189 ; his 
unpopularity, 200 

Germany, in 1775, 91 ; application for 
troops from, in ; vote for troops 
from, 113 ; its sympathy with 
America, 236 

Gibbon, loi 

Gibraltar, siege of, 168, 185 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, his attempts at 
colonisation in Virginia, 26 

Gloucester, its surrender by Corn- 
wallis to the Americans, 198 

Goldoni, 94 

Gordon, Lord George, 178 ; riots caused 
by, 179 _ 

Gorges, Sir Ferdmand, 48 

Government of the North American 
Indian, 6 

Grasse, Admiral Count de, defeated by 
Rodney in the West Indies, 203 

Great Britain, cost of the war to, 211 

Greene, appointed commander of the 
forces south of the Delaware, 182 ; 
defeats the English at the Cowpens, 
190 ; in the south, 190 ; retreats to 
the Dan river, 19 r ; recovers the 
greater part of South Carolina, 192 ; 
is defeated by Cornwallis at Guilford 
Court House, 192 ; whom he defeats 
at Eutaw Springs, 195 



ING 

Grenville, George, attempts to raise a 
revenue from the American colonies, 
68 

Guilford Court House, battle of, 191 



ILJAARLEM Heights, 131 

*■ ■'■ Hancock, 104 

Hargreaves, loi 

Henry, Patrick, his resolutions, 70 ; at 
the continental congress, 84 

Hillsborough, Lord, his policy, 78 

Holland, colonial power of, 90 

Holland, England's quarrel with, 175 ; 
war declared with England, 185 ; 
peace with England, 207 

House of Burgesses, 27 ; dissolution 
of, 119 

Howe, General, evacuates Boston, 117; 
his arrival at Sandy Hook, 122 ; 
lands at Staten Island, 127 ; his ad- 
vance, 131 ; captures Fort Washing- 
ton, 131 ; defeats Washington at 
Brandywine, 141 ; inactivity of his 
army in Philadelphia, 148 

Howe, Lord, his arrival at Sandy 
Hook, 122 ; threatens New York, 
127 ; his fruitless attempts to secure 
peace, 130; his engagement with 
D'Estaing, 157 

Hudson, Henry, his discoveries, 39 

Hume, 100 

Hunt, 46 

Hutchinson, Mrs., 48 

Hyder Ali, 159 ; defeats Colonel 
Baillie, 185 



T BERVILLE, d', 19 

Independence,American war of,first 
period, 103 ; second period, 149 ; its 
results, 211 ; paradoxes of, and its 
true character, 215 ; early popularity 
of, 227 ; the war in fact a duel be- 
tween George III. and Washington, 
229 ; state of the world after the war, 

234 

Independence, Declaration of, 122 
proposition of, 119 ; its unfairness, 
124 ; its enthusiastic reception in 
America, 126 ; looked upon as a de- 
claration of war, 126 ; its influence 
on foreign countries, 126 ; its recep- 
tion in England, 133 

Indian massacres, 158 

Indian wars, 28, 37, 52, 185 

Ingersoll, 71 



Index. 



243 



IRE 

Ireland, state of, in 1780, 177 
Iroquois, 13 ; devastation of their coun- 
try by Sullivan, 164 
Italy in 1775, 93 



TACKSON, Andrew, 180 

J Jacobite party extinct, 99 

Jay, appointed peace commissioner for 
Spain, 165 

Jefferson, Thomas, draws up the De- 
claration of Independence, 122 

Johnson, Dr., 100, 237 

Johnstone, Governor, attempts bribery 
with Joseph Reed, 158 

John the Painter attempts to fire Ports- 
mouth dockyard. 133 

Jones, Paul, 159 ; his sea-fight, 169 

Junius, 100, 103 



T/" EPPEL, Admiral, 158 
•^*- Kosciusko, joins the American 
army, 139 



T A FAYETTE, joins the American 

■'-^ army, 138 

La Salle, Cavalier de, his adventures, 

18 
Lee, General, capture of, 134 ; quarrels 

with Washington, 156 
Leisler, Jacob, governor of New York, 

Lexington, battle of, 104 

1/incoln, General, defeated at Briar 
Arch, 161 ; surrender of Charles- 
ton by, 171 

Locke's ' grand model ' of Carolina, 35 

* London Company,' permanent settle- 
ment of Englishmen in the colonies 
attributed to, 23 

London No-Popery riots, 179 

Long Island, battle of, 128 

Loudoun, Lord, 75 



TV/TACPHERSON, lor 

^^^ Malesherbes, 96 

Manhattan, 39 

Maryland, formation of, 32 ; early 

prosperity, 33 
Mason, John, 48 
Massachusetts colony, its growth, 48 ; 

during the commonwealth, 51 ; its 

struggles against restoration, 53 ; 

warfare with the French, 54 ; dis- 



NOP 

approval of the Navigation Laws, 
65 ; meeting of the House of Assem- 
bly of, 77 : protests against the Bos- 
ton Port Bill, 84 ; provincial congress 
at, 82 ; raising of troops in, 86 ; pre- 
pares for war, 89 ; repeal of the Act 
for regulating the Government, 150 

Massasoit, 46 

Miantonomo, his death, 50 

Mifflin, General, president of the Con- 
gress, 210 

Miller, Joaquin, on the Indians, 5, 9 

Minorca surrendered to the French, 
200 

Minuits, Peter, as governor of Man- 
hattan, 39 

Mobilian language, 6 

Monmouth, battle of, 156 

Montcalm, General, 62 ; his prediction, 
64 

Montesquieu, 97 

Montgomery, Brigadier-General, inva- 
sion of Canada by, 114 ; his diffi- 
culties, 115 

Morris, Robert, x88, 202 

Moultrie Fort, British attack on, 120 



TSJARRAGANSETTS, 49 

■'■ Natchez, the, destruction of, 20 

Navigation laws, the, disapproval and 
sufferings in the colonies under, 65 

Necker, 187 

Nelson in Central America, 175 

Netherlands in 1775, 93 ; England's 
quarrel with the, 175 

New Amsterdam, 40 

New Brunswick, conquest of, 62 

New England, early attempts at settle- 
ment in, 43 ; united colonies of, 50 ; 
King Philip's war in, 52 : struggles 
against the Navigation Laws, 65 ; 
freedom of, 117 

New Hampshire, 48 

New Jersey, its history'' connected with 
that of Pennsylvania, 41 ; recovered 
from the British, 136; ravages of the 
British in, 137 

New Sweden, 40 

New York, the centre colony of a sub- 
group, 39; in the hands of the English, 
41 ; Congress at, 71 ; suspension of 
the Assembly, 75 ; strengthening of 
its fortifications, 128 ; evacuation of, 
by the Americans, 130 ; evacuation 
of, by the British, 209 

No-Popery riots m London, 179 



244 



Index. 



NOR 

Norfolk, burning of, ii6 

North-American Indian, what he is, 3 ; 
what he was, 4 ; his arts, 4 ; lan- 
guage, 6 ; government, 6 ; compared 
with the Australian black, 5 ; in- 
feriority of women, 7 ; beliefs, 7 ; 
mode of warfare, 8 ; absence of the 
pastoral element, 8 ; his morals and 
endurance, 9 ; general character of 
relations between the red and white 
man, 11 ; distinction between the 
Latin and i eutonic races in re- 
lation to, 12 -, success of Roman 
Catholic nations in Christianising 
him, 12 

North, Lord, his policy, 78 ; attempts 
a compromise with America, 79 ; his 
new measures, 88 ; his Conciliatory 
Bills, 150 ; his policy, 177 ; fall of his 
ministry, 200 ; his resignation, 201 

Nova Scotia, French settlements in, 
17 ; populatioa of French in, 21 



QGELTHORPE, James, failure of 
^-^ his plans, 36 ; his charter and 

government, 37 ; hostilities with 

Spain, 38 
Ohio Company, 59 
'Olive Branch,' the, in 
Oliver, 71, 72 
Opechaneanough, 28, 29 
Otis, James, 69 



pARIS, peace of, 63 

-'• Parliament, debates in, 112 ; sup- 
port of the ministry respecting 
American affairs, 113; proceedings 
regarding the war, 194 ; and the sur- 
render of Cornwallis, 198 

Penn, Richard, and the ' Olive Branch,' 
III 

Penn, William, his proprietary rights, 42 

Pennsylvania, the last founded of the 
religious colonies, 42 ; disaffection 
in, 134 

Penobscot Bay, the British in, 164 

Pequod war with the English, 49 

Peters, Hugh, 48 

Philadelphia, continental congress at. 
84 ; occupied by the British, 142 ; 
rejoicings in England at the news of 
its capture, 144 ; evacuation, of, by 
the British, 155 

Philip, King, his war with the white 
men, 52 



ROD 

Pilgrim fathers, 43 

Pitt, William (afterwards Earl of Chat- 
ham), concurs with the American 
resistance of the Stamp Act, 73 ; his 
cabinet, 76 ; urges conciliation, 87, 
139 ; his inconsistencies, 145 ; the 
King refuses to make him premiei, 
152 ; last scene in his political life, 
152 ; his death, 152 

Pitt, William, opposed to the American 
war, 194 

Plymouth colony, 45 

Pocahontas, 28 

Poland, in 1775, 192 ; traditional friend- 
ship with France, 99 

Ponce de Leon, discoverer of Florida, 14 

Pontiac's war, 63 

Poitugal in 1775, 93 

Prescott, Colonel, defeated at Bunker's 
Hill, 107, 108 

Prevost, Colonel, defeats Lincoln at 
Briar Arch, 161 

Priestley, 102 

Princeton, battle of, 136 

Protestant Association, 178 

Putnam, General, defeated at Long 
Island, 128 



QUAKERISM in America, 42 
>C Quarterly Act, 75 
Quebec, storming of, 115 



"D ALEIGH, his attempts at colonisa- 
^ tion in Virginia, 26 

Rawdon, Lord, is defeated by Greene 
in South Caro ina, 193 

Rebellion, proclamation against, in 

Red man, the, 3 ; his relations with 
the white man, n : distinction be- 
tween the Latin and Teutonic races 
in relation to, 12 ; success of the 
Roman Catholic nations in Christian- 
ising him, 12 ; effect of the war on, 211 

Reed, Colonel Joseph, 122, 126, 134 

Restoration, the, 52 

Revenue Act, failure of, 80 

Revolution of 1688, 54 

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, loi 

Rhode Island, 48 ; dissolution of colo- 
nial government in, 119; recovered 
by the British, 132 ; evacuation by 
the British, 171 

Rochambeau, 196 

Rockingham cabinet, 73, 201 

Rodney, Admiral, his successes at sea. 



Index. 



245 



ROU 

174; takes St. Eustace, 186; his 

defeat of Count de Grasse in the 

West Indies, 203 
Rousseau, 94 ; his death, 236 
Russia, in 1775, 92; its declaration of 

armed neutrality, 176 
Rutledge, 127 



CT. AUGUSTINE, 15 

*^ St. Eustace is taken by Rodney, 
1S6 

Saratoga, battle of, 143 ; gloomy im- 
pression in England produced by its 
surrender, 145 

Savannah, taken by the British, 161 ; 
failure of the French and Ameri- 
cans at, 170; evacuated by the 
British, 204 

Scott, Walter, 237 

Separatists, 43 ; emigration of, 44 ,■ 
their compact before landing, 44 ; 
early difficulties of, 45 ; their relation 
with the Indians, 46 

Shaftesbury's ' grand model ' of Caro- 
lina, 35 

Shelburne, appointed manager of 
American affairs, 201 ; as prime 
minister, 203 ; fall of his ministrj',207 

Sheridan, loi 

Slavery, in South Carolina, 36 ; growth 
of, 56 ; royal traders in, 56 ; in Africa, 
57 ; passage in the Declaration of 
Independence struck out, 124 

Slave trade, 118, 209; effect of the war 
on, 213 

Smeaton, 103 

Smith, Adam, lor 

Smith, John, his adventures, 28 

Smith, Lieut. -Colonel, defeated at Lex- 
ington, 104 

Sons of Liberty organisations, 81 

Soto, Ferdinand de, explorations of, 14 

Spain, colonies of, in America, 14 ; 
position in America after the treaty 
of Paris, 1763, 16 ; colonial power of, 
90 ; the only power with France 
directly interested in the American 
struggle, 93; in 1775, 93; secretly 
aids America, 118 ; her backwardness 
in going to war, 165 ; war convention 
with France, 166 : at war with Eng- 
land, 167 ; negotiations stopped by 
the no-popery riots, 180 ; their suc- 
cesses against the English, 186 

Spaniards, 14; discoveries by, in 
America, 14 



VIR 

Stamp Act, 1765, 69; riots caused by 
its introduction, 70, 71 ; cannot be 
carried into effect, 72 ; repealed, 
1766, 73 

Stillwater, battle of, 142 

Strachey on the Indians, 4 

Strutt, Jerediah, loi 

Stuart, Colonel, defeats Greene at 
Eutaw Springs, 195 

Stuyvesant, governor of New Nether- 
lands, 40 

Sullivan, General, joins Washington, 
134 ; devastates the Iroquois coun- 
trj'-, 164 

Sumpter, Colonel, defeated by Tarle- 
ton at Camden, 181 ; and defeats 
him at Blackstock, 182 

Sweden, colonies of, in America, 39 ; 
in 1775, 93 



nPARLETON, defeats Sumpter at 
*- Camden, 181 ; and is defeated by 
him at Blackstock, 182 
Tea, Act of 1 770, 79 ; repeal of Aot, 

151 ; destruction of, at Boston, 81 
Thackeray, on colonists in America, 24 
Thirteen English colonies, 24 
Ticonderoga, surrender of, 105 
Tippoo Sultan, his peace with Eng- 
land, 207 
Tobacco, growth of, in Virginia, 31, 32 
Tr.ade Act, general prohibition of, 113 
Trenton, surprise of the British at, 135 
Turgot, 96, 118 
Turkey in 1775, 92 
Tryon, General, 163 



T T NCAS, the Mohegan, 50 
^ Underbill, John, 40 
United colonies of New England, 50 
United States acknowledged as free, 
206 



YALLEY FORGE, Washington's 

winter quarters, 147 
Vane, Sir Harry, governor of Massa- 
chusetts, 49 
Vergennes, Count de, iii, 144, 146 
Verrazzani, his discoveries, 17 
Virginia, early attempts at colonisation 
in, 26 ; colonisation of, 27 ; first as- 
sembly in, 27 ; effect of the wars on, 
28; submits to the Commonwealth, 
29; its restoration, 30; its distress. 



246 



Index. 



VOL 

31 ; effect of the stoppage of the 
growth of tobacco on, 31 ; its pros- 
perity, 31 ; disputes about its go- 
vernment, 34 ; protests against the 
Boston Port Bill, 83 ; a Congress 
called in, 83 ; prepares for war, 89 ; 
dissolution of the House of Bur- 
gesses, 119; ravages in, 163 
Voltaire, 94 ; his return to Paris, 235 ; 
his death, 236 



V\;rALPOLE, Horace, loi 
• * Washington, Fort, surrender of, 132 

Washington, George, takes part in 
the French and Indian war, 59 ; 
his proposed congress, 60 ; his 
bravery, 61 ; defeats the French, 62 ; 
his feelings respecting the conduct 
of England, 79 ; at the continental 
congress, 84 ; disclaims the idea of 
independence, 85; appointed com- 
mander-in-chief, 106 ; his character, 
106 ; his difficulties, 108, 116 ; at New 
York, 120 ; his conduct towards the 
royal commissioners, 127 ; wretched 
state of his army, 129 ; evacuates 
New York, 130; his retreat through 
New Jersey, 132 ; outcry in America 
against him, 133 ; his temporary 
military dictatorship, 135 ; attacks 
Trenton, 135 : defeats Cornwallis at 
Princeton, 136; recovers New Jersey, 
136 ; his winter difficulties, 136 ; is 
defeated at Brandywine, 141 ; his re- 
treat, 142 ; renewed outcry against, 
142 ; his winter quarters at Valley 



YOU 

Forge, 137; his army during the 
wmter of 1778-9, 162 ; his policy, 
162 ; starving state of his army, 172 ; 
mutiny in his army, 188 ; junction 
with the French, 196; marches to 
Virginia, 197; defeats Cornwallis at 
Yorktown, 197; offered the crown, 
203 ; discontent of his officers, 207 ; 
is thanked by Congress, 210 ; charac- 
ter of his greatness, 232 ; compared 
with Wellington, 233 ; success of 
American war attributed to him, 
229 ; a thorough Englishman, 234 

Watt, 102 

Wedgwood, 102 

Wellesley, Arthur (Duke of Welling- 
ton), 103 ; compared to Washington, 

233 

White, Colonel, ludicrous success of, 
170 

White man, the, 14 ; Spaniards, 14 ; 
French, 16 ; English, 22 ; advance- 
ment of in consequence of the war, 
212 

Whitefield, 38 

Wilkes, John, 100 

Williams, Roger, founder of Rhode 
Island, 48 

Wyoming massacres, 158 



YORKSHIRE Committee, 177 
^ Yorktown, Cornwallis at, 195 ; 
invested by the French and Ameri- 
rans^ 197 ; surrendered by Corn- 
wallis to the Americans, 198 
i Young, Arthur, 103 



MODERN HISTORICAL HANDBOOKS. 



In course of publication^ each volume in fcp. Zz>o. 
complete in itself. 

Epochs of Modern History 



A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND EUROPE 

At Successive Epochs subsequent to the 
Christian Era. 

EDITED BY 

EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. 

Of Lincoln College, Oxford ; Head Master of the Melbourne 
Grammar School, Australia ; 



J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.O.L. 

Late Fellow of New College, Oxford; Head Master of the Bedford 
Grammar School ; 



C. COLBECK, M.A. 

Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ; Assistant Master on the Modern 
Side at Harrow School. 



THE SERIES intitled 'Epochs of Modern Histoiy' had its 
origin in the conviction that for purposes of Education or Study, a 
complete picture of any one important period of the World's history, care- 
fully prepared and in an inexpensive form, is of more value than a mere 
outline of the History of a Nation. 



Epochs of Modern History. 



The difficulty in applying this idea to books of history is the risk of 
spoiling the interest by diminishing the detail. But it is generally allowed 
that the complete picture of any short period is of more value, in an educa- 
tional point of view, than a mere outline of the history of a nation ; and the 
practice dictated by the couise of many public examinations, of reading 
periods of history, seems to suggest a way in which it may be possible to 
secure in handy and cheap volumes that fulness without which history is 
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For schools the study of elaborate history is, and must remain, an im- 
possibility ; and generally, it may be safely said that in school routine time 
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knowledge of the condition of surrounding countries is of at least equal 
importance with its own previous history. This Is, so to speak, a horizontal 
rather than a vertical study of history. 

It is hoped, therefore, that this series of books relating to definite periods 
of history, may meet a want which cannot be met by continuous histories of 
aay one country. The series is by no means confined to the history of 
England, but deals also with European history : and where the course of 
events in England gives to the epoch its name and character, care has been 
and will be taken to trace the connexion of English historj'' with that of the 
continental nations, and with the progress of ideas at work among them. 

Great as the improvement has been in the histories prepared of late years 
for the use of schools, manuals thoroughly adapted for boys and girls are stiH 
required. The memories of the young cannot retain mere names, or retain them 
only at the cost of efforts which weaken their powers in other directions. In 
school histories no reference should be made to events of which some clear idea 
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history unless enough can be said to exhibit them as living men. To this 
rule the contributors to the present series will, so far as practicable, strictly 
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In short, it is their object, not to recount all the events of any given 
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With each volume is given a Map or Maps, illustrative of the period of 
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Epochs of Modern History. 



Eight Volumes now published : — 

The ERA of the PROTESTANT REVO- 
LUTION. By F. Seebohm, Author of the ' Oxford Reformers — 
Colet, Erasmus, More.' With 4 Coloured INIaps and 12 Diagrams 
on Wood. Price 2^. 6(i. 

The CRUSADES. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. 

late Scholar of Trinity College, O.xford ; Author of the Aryan 
Mythology ' &c. With a Coloured Map. Price 2s. 6d. 

The THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648. 

By Samuel Rawson Gardiner, late Student of Ch. Ch. Author 
of ' History of England from the Accession of James I. to the 
Disgrace of Chief Justice Coke' &c. With a Coloured Map. 
Price 2s. 6d. 

The HOUSES of LANCASTER and YORK; 

with the CONQUEST and LOSS of FRANCE. By James 
Gairuner, of the Riblic Record Office, Editor of 'The Paston 
Letters ' &:c. With 5 Coloured Maps. Price 2^-. 6d. 

EDWARD the THIRD. By the Rev. W. War- 

BURTON, M.A. late Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford ; Her 
Majesty's Senior Inspector of Schools. With 3 Coloured Maps aixl 
2 Genealogical Tables. Price zs. 6d. 

The AGE of ELIZABETH. By the Rev. M. 

Creighton, M.A. late Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. 
With 5 Maps and 4 Genealogical Tables. Price 2J. 6rf. 

The FALL of the STUARTS; and WEST- 
ERN EUROPE from 1678 to 1697. By the Rev. Edward 
Hale, ISLA. Assistant Master at Eton. With Maps. Price ai'. 6d. 

The PURITAN REVOLUTION. By Samuel 

Rawson Gardiner, late Student of Ch. Ch. Author of 'The 
Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648,' in the ssme Series. With Maps. 
Price ay. 6d. 

From t/ie AthenjEVM, May,Z, 1875. 

' The value of a set of little books on different epochs of history will 

probably be appreciated more as time goes on. At present the idea is a 

new one, and the work before us is only the fifth volume that has appeared. 

The design of the whole series is, however, one that must recommend itself 



Epochs of Modern Ilisiojy, 



more and more to the public as the true principles of historical study 
become better understood ; for there is no one, however carefully he may 
have examined, either from original or secondary sources, one or two 
leading subjects in history, who does not feel that he requires the help oi 
some popular hand-book— some judiciously compressed abstract — to realise 
the main features of different epochs, and to understand their bearings on 
each other. It was, moreover, high time that even popular handbooks 
should rise above the narrow notion, that the history of one country or 
nation is to be treated entirely by itself. The study of an epoch necessarily 
implies a more or less complete view of the whole civilised world at the 
time : and, in realising this, we gain an insight into causes which act and 
re-act on the lives of nations far down the ages, even to the days in which 
we live.' 

Volumes, in continuation of ifie Series, in various 

stages of preparation : — 

The NORMANS in EUROPE. By Rev. A. H. 

JoH.MSON, M.A. Fellow of All Sotils' College, Oxford. 

FREDERICK the GREAT and the SEVEN 

YEARS' WAR. By F. W. Longman, of Balliol College, Oxford. 

The AGE of ANNE. By E. E. Morris, M.A. 

original Editor of the Series. 

The FRENCH REVOLUTION to the 

BATTLE of WATERLOO, 1789-1815. By B. Meriton Cordery, 
Author of ' King and Commonwealth.' 

The WAR of AMERICAN INDEPEN- 
DENCE. By J. M. Ludlow, Barrister-at-Law ; Author of 'A 
.Sketch of the History of the United States from Independence to 
Secession ' &c. 

The BEGINNING of the MIDDLE AGES; 

Charles the Great and Alfred ; the History of England in its con- 
nexion with that of Europe in the Ninth Century. By the Very 
Rev. R. W. Church, M.A. Dean of St. Paul's. 

The EARLY PLANTAGENETS and their 

RELATION to the HISTORY of EUROPE ; the foundation 
and growth of Constitutional Government. By the Rev. W. 
Stubbs, M.A. Professor of Modern History In the University of 
Oxford. 

London, LONGMANS & CO. 



